Beyond the Magic
by Rogue Devlin
Summary: This is the translated version of my original "Más Allá de la Magia". After the events in StrikerS, Fate will have to cope with the things that drive her life. NanoFate.
1. Doubts Assault

**C****hapter 1. Doubts Assault**

"Nanoha, what are we?"

I could barely mumble these words. It was unbelievable the amount of strength that I had to gather to dare ask that to the girl who had been my life for the last years. I would rather face hundreds of androids than voice my deepest thoughts, but there was no going back now.

… … … … … … … … …

"What do you mean, Fate-chan?" Nanoha answered happily. "Besides Aces of Aces? What kind of question is that? You are an Enforcer, I'm an Instructor. I thought you knew that", she answered rather amused.

Fate barely half-laughed. "_You really are that innocent, Nanoha", _she thought to herself. Only someone like her could answer that question, associating it to both their jobs. With a sudden impulse of confidence, she turned to see those blue eyes she never got tired of watching, and clearing her voice she said: "I meant about us".

Nanoha set aside the book she was reading. This conversation seemed like serious stuff, she could read that in the eyes of her life-time friend. It was so unnatural of Fate to start such a conversation. It was usually her, Nanoha, the one who brought up the serious matters.

"We are a family", she answered with a wide smile.

Fate smiled, she felt something warm inside her every time she heard that. Nonetheless, lately something bothered her.

"Yes… we are a family, but… what does that mean?" she asked again.

Nanoha blinked twice, while a series of images fast-forwarded in her mind. Nanoha knew what was it like to belong to a family. She had her parents, her siblings. Memories of them at Midori-ya, the family's restaurant, birthday parties shared, and picnics enjoyed, flashed by. They had always supported her, and she knew she could count on them even if they were, literally, living in different worlds. Now, she admired the woman in front of her, whom, along with Vivio, had become her family as well. One formed by her. It was a fact that she had never had to give much thought about since everything had happened so smoothly. It was a good number of years now that they had been living together, in one way or another. The way Fate stepped-in to share parenthood for Vivio had only strengthened that idea of family.

_Why was Fate having doubts now?_

"Well, it means that we take care of each other, that we build a home for Vivio..."

Nanoha's words were interrupted by a projection of a communication screen that appeared in front of them. Fate was immediately required at her base, since a new lead had been discovered in the case she was following. There was no time to lose.

Visibly annoyed, something so not like her, Fate struggled while putting on her jacket, and tying the laces of her boots at the same time, thinking how untimely of the call.

Nanoha silently watched her, a quiet façade that did not reveal at all the thoughts that raced in her mind. Fate had doubts, it was obvious. Something worried her and, probably for the first time since their lives led the same path, she felt unable to read what those once-sad eyes were trying to tell her.

"Take it easy Fate-chan, we will continue this conversation when you get back."

There was something about that voice that Nanoha knew when to use that could soothe her like nothing else could.

Nanoha went on, "Fate-chan, take care of yourself and don't over do it". It was a reminder she always told, not only Fate, but to her students or truth be told, to anyone she cared about. Although, deep down she knew that every time she told that to someone, it was an opportunity to remind that to herself. She had gotten too close to the limit more than once. In her heart she knew she had, at least, two powerful reasons not risk herself like that ever again.

"Thank you, Nanoha".

Fate hurried out and as she opened the door, she took a moment to turn around. She looked at Nanoha, standing tall and beautiful in front of her, and sheepishly smiled at her. She felt the warmth rising up her cheeks.

Her eyes met and with a steady voice said: "I love you Nanoha", and exited as quickly as she could, carefully closing the door behind her, leaving Nanoha completely flabbergasted.

… … … … … … … … …

Nanoha was still standing in front of the door.

It was certainly not the first time Fate told her that. It had become rather natural for them, due to their closeness. Hugging, fooling around, holding hands, even holding themselves together in their sleep.

This time, however, she felt that she couldn't even move her feet from the ground. The intensity of those burgundy eyes telling her she loved her…_what had been different this time?_

* * *

**Author's Note:**

All characters belong to its owners. I do not own anything related to Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, unless you consider a few merchandasing items

OK, that pretty much covers the basics.

This is my first (and probably only) fanfiction. I just finished publishing the complete version in Spanish. English is not my mother tongue (you guys will, most likely, have figured that out already) but since I was very impressed with the positive feedback I got with my little project in Spanish, I thought I'd try to approach a wider audience by translating it. I hope you enjoy it, if you do, please consider reviewing!

Thanks for taking some of your time to read my crazy ideas.


	2. Stories

**Chapter 2. Stories**

Fate's office was wide and well-lit. She had already read the file and was ready to depart. Teana would usually join her in that kind of missions, but at this moment, she was attending a special training. Chrono had arranged a spot for Teana in a special operations training, and that kind of opportunity could not be wasted. Fate wouldn't mind going on her own to the mission, but a partner would surely be arranged by her superiors. Fate took a moment to breath.

With lazy eyes she glanced at the shelf where she had her three most important photographs in display. The ones that defined who she was. It was impossible not feel a pang of pain as she watched Precia Testarossa's picture. It had been hard, but she had survived. Thanks to and despite Precia, Fate was who she was right now.

A smile lit her face as she watched the next frame. Commander Lindy had welcomed her in her family, becoming the mother she always tried to find in Precia. Under Precia's orders she had risked her own life, and put at stake others' lives, including Nanoha's in a desperate attempt to make her mother happy. To have her love and her recognition. Commander Lindy, on the other hand, offered her true love and a spot in her family as if she had always belonged there. Even Chrono, serious and stoic as always, always showed a genuine interest in her well-being, right from the beginning. She was deeply thankful to them.

At last, she took a closer look at Nanoha and Vivio's picture. Once again she felt that particular warmth inside her. There was no doubt, this was her family. In her mind, she replayed Nanoha telling her so. She couldn't help but feel that something was missing, and she couldn't pin exactly what was.

She had to clear her mind. She had to focus in the file she was reading. Reports indicated a high magical presence in a planet that had been, for a long while, considered inhabited. The lead group in charge of the preliminary recognition was ready. She had to be ready to depart in a few more minutes to lead the investigation.

Signum peeked through the half-open door. She saw Fate lost in her own thoughts and with the sole purpose of scaring her, voiced out: "Testarossa".

Fate almost landed flat in the floor. With her heart pounding at hundreds of miles per hour, she tried to sit back on her chair and straighten all the papers that flew around.

"Signum, have you forgotten how to knock on doors? You almost kill me", Fate said jokingly. "What are you doing here?"

Signum dropped on the nearest chair. Fate was superior in rank, yet formalities had never worked between them, and if they had to comply when they were around colleagues, narrowed to just the two of them meant formalities simply vanished. Fate would rather be burnt alive than accept that she felt a little intimidated by Signum. She certainly admired her, but it'd be easier if she were the subordinate.

"Testarossa, Hayate ordered me to join you in your mission. There are interests on several organizations to solve the situation as quickly and effectively as possible, so a little help won't harm".

Fate leaned back her chair and turned around to watch through the window.

"I guess it's something more serious than we originally thought, right?"

Signum had a lot of important work in her hands, so it was not as simple to separate her from her duties. It goes without question that Hayate must have had pulled a lot of strings to make sure it was Signum who joined her in this mission.

"I'm afraid so", the pinkhaired answered.

"I'm glad you were entrusted with this duty. After Nanoha, I think you are my favorite combat partner."

"It's an honor to be considered after the Ace of Aces", she answered, with a slight sarcastic tone.

"Haha, well it's not only that. You know, Nanoha and I have a lot of practice hours together, and of real combat, obviously; it's just natural that I feel comfortable with her. Besides I'd rather have you by my side than against you, you are a tremendous opponent."

Signum nodded.

"Right back at you Testarossa. Are you ready to go now?"

"Absolutely. Let's get going."

… … … … … … … … …

At the Takamachi home, Nanoha quietly entered Vivio's bedroom. It was late at night, a few minutes after 11 and Vivio was soundly asleep. She watched her tenderly and noticed how much Vivio resembled Fate. If she didn't know better, she would have sworn Vivio was actually Fate's biological daughter. _Her hair, the color of her eyes, well at least one of them_, she thought with a smile. Vivio's hair was just a bit darker than Fate's, just as if in the blonde's genetic pool, a streak of brownish hair had made its appearance.

_Just the way it would result from my color hair and Fate-chan's._

She watched again as her daughter slept peacefully. She was glad Vivio had finally agreed to sleep in her own bed, hugging tons of plushies, of course. She had insisted in it. Nanoha wondered if that reflected her own selfishness. She loved Vivio more than anything else and would give her life for her in an instant, and yet she had felt the urge to claim back some of her own territory back. Her bed. With Fate. But why? She had not bothered to understand why, and Fate had made no comment about it. In fact there were times when Fate's side of the bed would be empty while she was on duty, but deep down she knew she slept way better when they were sharing their bed. Vivio sighed in her sleep and shifted her body a bit. This movement snapped Nanoha out of her thoughts. She approached her daughter, and brushed a lock of hair from her forehead, where she lightly kissed her. As quietly as she had entered, she exited Vivio's room and went to her home office.

Nanoha was a consumed workaholic, there was no doubt of that, so she had destined a place at her home where she could work. She had reports to prepare and had to lay out the following week's training scheme for her new group. As her recognition grew, so did the challenges she faced. On a daily basis she would get all kinds of offerings to train Special Forces, from every place of the galaxy, some places she had never even heard about. Sometimes this seemed so unreal to her. She had no doubt she could already be as high in rank, or even higher than Hayate, but that would have implied a lot of additional responsibilities, and a lot of bureaucracy. Less hours in the field, and more hours dedicated to socializing. She had no intention of making the sacrifices required, especially her time for her personal life. She wanted to make sure her daughter would have the best upbringing she could, but that also meant spending with her as much time as she could and, even, if it was possible, to compensate the time Fate could not spend with Vivio.

Nanoha shook her head. It was amazing, her thoughts either started or finished with her thinking about Fate. No matter what she was thinking, Fate would always come to her mind. She was deeply happy to have Fate by her side, and in that moment she recalled the conversation they were having just a while ago.

Suprisingly enough, she had never seen Fate date anyone at all, and she certainly wasn't short on proposals. Fate was an outstanding beauty, there was no doubt about that. It was probably Fate herself the one that had no clue of how stunning she was. She would turn down each and everyone who might suggest anything remotely close to a date. She would just dedicate her free time, as little as it could be, to "her two girls" as she ocassionally referred to them.

_Would that be the reason of the questions she had asked her?_

Most of the people around them regarded them as a couple, and sometimes teased them with romantic implications. The truth was that, despite the deep love between them, nothing else had ever happened. They really enjoyed their mutual company, and since the day they had exchanged ribbons standing in the bridge, they had been there for each other. She sighed and decided to continue on the work she was behind. Her mind was rambling. It was Fate she was thinking about, there was no need to give much thought about it. Things would be as good as ever.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't think I'll ever get used to see hits to my story from all over the world. It's shocking. Or to realize that someone had used google translate to follow my story in Spanish, it's really humbling.

Sadly I still do not own any of the characters.

Once again, forgive my English if some sentences are just not well constructed. I'm eager to improve so please R&R :)


	3. UnResolved Sexual Tension

**Chapter 3. (Un)Resolved Sexual Tension**

In all her years at the service of the law, as Fate liked to joke about it, she had always had her mind set and clear in a mission. This time, however, her brain was being overflowed by ideas that unnerved her. While firmly holding Bardiche in Scythe Form she walked cautiously through the streets of an ancient civilization in ruins.

"_Testarossa._"

She could hear Signum's voice in her mind.

"_This place is completely abandoned,_" Fate answered mind to mind.

"_We cannot let our guard down, the reports clearly indicated that the magical presence is really close._"

"Bardiche, would you let me know the coordinates, again, please?"

"Yes, Sir," the well-known voice of her device answered back.

"_This is definitely the place Signum, but I can't see a thing,_" she communicated again with her partner.

"_It must be somewhere around -_ ," a sudden movement caught Fate's attention, who immediately sprinted towards the same.

"_Testarossa, where are you going?_" Signum tried to communicate with Fate with no avail, and started going after her.

Fate found herself inside what seemed a really old construction, entirely made of stone. It was really dark, since the only light was Bardiche's. She tried focusing her senses when she saw a faint glow. She approached the place and found a small pair of silver rings that barely glowed. She knew she was not going by the book when she deliberately pocketed the pair of silver rings.

"Here you are", Signum voiced almost breathlessly. "What the hell happened? I thought something had attacked you!"

"Nothing like that, besides, the source of the signal is coming from that direction. Let's get going."

"_Testarossa, today you are weirder than usual. What's wrong with you?" _Signum thought to herself, carefully eyeing her.

In what seemed like the central square of the city a large column stood tall. They both saw what they were looking for at the same time; it looked like a Jewel Seed, except the size and color were different.

"Signum, I'll let you do the honors. You can seal and collect that… that thing, whatever it is," Fate indicated with a firm voice.

"Wow, how kind of you. Are you sure it's not that you're afraid of it being a dangerous object?" laughed Signum.

Fate felt blushing a little. She hated that reaction of her body, but in the end it was not something she could control.

"Har har, I just thought it would look good in your résumé if you collected it."

"Right, it's just about me and not you being a careful mother," Signum teased her again.

"Oh, stop it. I'll just go ahead and do it," Fate dared her, smiling.

"No, no," and in a flash of a move, Signum casted the spell required to seal the unknown artifact.

"Good, because then the paperwork is up to you too."

Fate strutted back really proud of herself.

Signum laughed inwardly.

_Pretty smart girl_, Signum thought. _I just wish you had eyes for someone else instead of Nanoha._

There it was, she had thought of _that _again. She knew it was a mistake laying her eyes on her. Who could blame her? Fate was just so incredibly attractive, and the fact that she was so unaware of it just made her more irresistible.

… … … … … … …

"Come on Testarossa, let me drive you home. I'd never thought you wouldn't have brought your car. You're practically in love with it."

"Why, yes of course, but since I resumed my position at the Interstellar Navigation Bureau, I can barely use it so it's much more useful for Nanoha to drive it. Now that I think of it, it's strange to see you driving," Fate answered while sitting shotgun in Signum's car.

"You're right, but I have to run some errands in the city, so I can drop you home, boss." Signum answered as she started her car and drove to the highway.

They spent the next minutes in silence. Fate just looked to the window and Signum would occasionally steal some glances at her.

Signum decided to break the ice.

"Since our mission started it's obvious something has been bothering you. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Ah." Fate snapped back to reality. Being as reserved as she was, Fate had trouble voicing out her deepest thoughts, but her desperation was reaching levels she knew she would not be able to control for much longer. After Nanoha and Arf, she trusted in Signum with her life. Surely, she could talk to her.

"Have you ever been… you know… attracted to someone?" Fate asked hesitantly.

"Just someone? If you put it that way, I suppose, yes. In fact, I don't think there is someone in this universe that has never been attracted to someone else in some moment for some reason", Signum answered half-joking, exaggerating on the undefined words to force Fate to be a bit more specific. "Although I don't think that's what has you like that."

Fate cleared up her throat and trying to gather some confidence, continued. "What I mean is if you have felt attracted, just a little to… well to another…"

"Now it all makes sense", Signum interrupted her immediately. "Now that you mention it, I have felt that way. You mean, if I've ever been attracted to another woman, right?"

"So… what did you do?" Fate asked really interested.

"Nothing," Signum replied quietly.

"Nothing, how come you…" Fate was starting to talk when Signum interrupted her.

"I didn't do anything because I was afraid my feelings would not be returned, but maybe it was a mistake."

"A mistake?"

"If I didn't do anything I wouldn't know how we both really felt…"

Signum turned off her car. Fate hadn't even realized how fast they arrived to her house. She saw the lights were off, and remembered Nanoha had planned to have dinner in her parents' house. She almost felt an electrical shock when she felt Signum hand over hers.

"I… ah…," Fate mumbled and she could feel the heat riding her face.

"Shhh, don't say anything Fate", Signum whispered while she put her arm around her shoulder, placed her hand in her neck and closed her in.

Fate's mind was blocked momentarily. How had Signum called her? She had never gone on a first-name basis with her before, and more important, what was happening right now? Everything was going so fast and so slow at the same time. She started to notice Signum's breath right in front of her mouth and her lips touched hers. Fate parted her lips a bit, getting carried on with the moment for an instant before pulling back.

"Signum, I didn't… I mean, you, not you, but…" Fate tried to be able to voice one of the gazillion ideas that were trying to come out from her head to her mouth unsuccessfully,

Signum readjusted herself in the driver's seat.

"Testarossa, please tell me Nanoha is not inside." Fate noticed a very mischievous tone in Signum's voice.

"Signum… I didn't mean. I mean, you are very beautiful, but I didn't mean us, you, when I asked… it's just that…" Fate mumbled, visibly flushed.

"Testarossa, I hope Nanoha is not inside because I wouldn't want to receive a Divine Buster for this" Signum laughed lightheartedly. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have kissed you, that felt like kissing a sister. You are really beautiful but I really did not expect to feel absolutely nothing."

Fate, still nervous watched her completely confused.

"Then you don't… it's not …"

"Get your ideas in order Testarossa. You and I can be great friends and as your friend I suggest you solve this conflict you have with the girl inside the house. It's obvious that's what has you like this. I guess that since it took you so long to react, that's why I thought for a moment that your intentions were intended towards me. Gomene, Testarossa."

Fate sighed relieved.

"Thanks to the heavens! I already have enough internal conflicts to add done more. I would have gone mentally insane. Although… you called me by my name Signum." Fate was now the one showing a mischievous smile.

"First and last time, Testarossa. If you ever try to mention it in public I will deny it, and , trust me on that, I will make you suffer." Signum said with a genuine smile.

Fate smiled back.

"I believe I have many things to think about, I should go inside now."

Signum hugged her and told hear, next to her ear, "You both are extremely lucky, everything will turn out just right."

Fate stepped out of the car showing off a broad smile and Signum winked at her while driving off.

* * *

**Author's Note: **

I officially hate punctuation marks, LOL.

Please bear with me, I'm having a lot of trouble figuring out how to punctuate dialogue. It is painful.

Anyways, I'm thrilled to see that the English version is being read all over the world. South Africa? Finland? just to name a couple. It's just unbelievable!

Oh, and before I forget I need to apologize: I'm sorry! Please don't be offended by the little FateNum. I just had to address what I felt between those two, and end it in my story.

Please continue Reading & Reviewing . See you next chapter! :)


	4. Explanations

**Chapter 4. Explanations**

Nanoha was still dumbfounded from what she had just seen. She had obviously known and not only known, she had felt, the moment Fate was back. Raising Heart could easily detect Bardiche's presence, and it had become a habit for her device to inform her. She had so many things to talk about with her, and standing by the window she felt the ground beneath her feet crumbling down. Was it jealousy what she was feeling? She had never felt like that before, that much she could tell. For some reason she couldn't bear seeing Fate right now. She was beginning to understand the reasons behind the questions Fate had asked her before going to her mission. Fate probably didn't how to handle somehow having a family with her and having a relationship with Signum. How could she not notice before?

She heard the main door opening and in a fraction of a second got in bed pretending to be asleep. She turned to face the wall and tried as hard as she could to stay still. The light footsteps she heard told her Fate went directly to Vivio's room, as she always did. A few minutes later she felt Fate sliding into bed, and she tried as hard as she could to stay quiet.

Fate was surprised to see Nanoha was actually home, and although she wanted to tell her everything she felt right now, she didn't want to wake her up so she resisted the urge to hug her. She was lost in her own thoughts until she heard a muffled sob. Nanoha wasn't sleeping, was she?

"Nanoha?" Fate asked quietly, but with a deeply concerned voice. "Nanoha", she repeated. "What's wrong?"

Nanoha turned to her. She couldn't control her crying anymore and all she could do was launch herself into Fate's arms and bury her head in her chest very much like the way she had done long ago in the bridge.

"Na-Nanoha, you are worrying me", Fate felt like going crazy.

"Fate-chan, I…" Nanoha could barely talk in between the heavy sobbing, while all Fate could do was caress her hair.

Tears threatened in Fate's eyes. She could not bear see Nanoha cry. That was more than she could resist. Lovingly she led her hand to Nanoha's face to clear the tears that ran down one of her cheeks and without giving it a second thought she brought her lips closer to Nanoha's other cheek, a shy attempt to erase the other tears there.

"Don't touch me!" Nanoha exploded and as quickly as she could, she got out of the bed.

Fate stayed in bed shocked. She was not understanding what was going on… unless… Fate might be a bit slow sometimes but she definitely was not a fool. She covered her mouth with her hand guiltily, and a little frightened dared ask her.

"You saw me by the window, didn't you Nanoha?"

Nanoha opened her eyes for a moment, startled by Fate's direct question.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she answered while turning around to get out of her room.

Fate, quick as a flash, placed herself between Nanoha and the door.

"We have to talk," Fate told her as gently as she could.

"I don't have anything to talk about," Nanoha rebuffed, not being able to control her temper.

Fate knew she had to be very careful with every word she was about to say. Somehow, Nanoha's attitude encouraged her, because she was sure Nanoha had seen her kiss with Signum and if that was what had her so upset it may be… well maybe Nanoha, might somehow feel the same way she felt about her. She had to thank some superior being for Nanoha being able to control her temper. Just as Signum had joked about receiving a Divine Buster, it was now she, Fate the one that was at risk of receiving one right now.

"Nanoha, I can understand you not wanting to talk to me right now, but we really do have to talk. Do you remember we promised it before I left to my mission?" Fate talked to her, still as gently as she could.

Nanoha looked at her, it was impossible not to oblige, hearing Fate's voce. It was impossible for her to say 'No' to those eyes that had captivated her from the very first instant she saw them. It was Fate who was talking to her, and the honesty in her voice overpowered her.

"Fate-chan, I think I've understood a little too late what you were trying to tell me." Nanoha started saying as she tried to calm down. The moment for separaton had come. She had never considered that possibility, but it became obvious Fate had the right to have her own life. She waited a few seconds, and suddenly felt Fate's hands over her own. Fate tried to lock her gaze with hers, and that had Nanoha at the verge of tears again.

"I'm not sure you have really understood Nanoha. I've trying to find the way, the proper words to express the hundreds of ideas that run in my head. When I asked you what we were and you answered 'a family' I –"

Nanoha interrupted her. "I know. It's natural for you to want to form a family of your own. I'm sorry I forced you into one and took you for granted. Now I understand you want to be with Sig – ."

"No, Nanoha, that's what I want you to listen to me… I don't know how to tell you that I… Wait, you didn't force me to do anything. I'm with you, both of you because I love you, because I can't imagine my life without you. Without you, Nanoha. I don't see my life without you being in it."

"But I just saw you with Signum, or are you going to tell me that didn't happen?" Nanoha snapped back and in her eyes the pain was more than evident.

Fate felt her face blushing furiously. It was really uncomfortable to blush like that, especially when it had to do with Nanoha. "I'm not going to tell you it didn't happen, and although it may sound like the typical _it didn't mean anything_, it really didn't mean anything."

"Yeah right, nothing", Nanoha frowned.

Fate knew this was not going the way it was supposed to go. At least Nanoha's hands were still between hers. She held her hand and looking into her eyes, told her "You know I would never lie to you, you know that, right?"

Nanoha looked away. Down in her gut she knew it. It was probably one of the few things she had no doubts whatsoever. However, she let the pain speak for her.

"I thought I knew Fate-chan, right now I don't know what to think."

Fate saw Nanoha's pain in her eyes. Why had she tried to change how things were between them? She was happy, Nanoha was happy. She had all that she wanted, _didn't she?_

* * *

**Author's Note:** I'm still in awe for all the kind reviews I've received for my little story. Translating it is as thrilling as it was writing it for the first time. See you next chapter :) _  
_


	5. Clarification

**Chapter 5. Clarification**

Fate looked at her almost in despair. She had to be the one to gather enough courage to let her feelings out and once and for all understand how Nanoha felt about her. What was happening in front of her eyes was a small example of how devastating jealousy can be. If they were not a couple, they surely knew how to argue as one.

"The thing that happened with Signum was the result of a misunderstanding."

"A misunderstanding, right…" mumbled Nanoha

Without losing her patience, Fate led her, still holding her hand, to the couch they usually shared to watch TV. Nanoha let herself be guided to take a seat in the couch. Fate crouched in front of her, almost kneeling.

"It was a misunderstanding. I was asking Signum if she…well, if she had ever felt attracted _in that way _to another… girl, and I guess I was a bit unspecific because she thought I was talking about her."

A spark flashed in Nanoha's eyes, but vanished just as fast. She didn't know what to think or even worse, what to feel. Is it really happening what she thought was happening?

Fate took a deep breath, getting as ready as she could to say what she had to say. If she didn't say what she had to say right now, she was going to explode.

"Nanoha, I wasn't referring to her because in my mind and in my heart there is no one else but you."

"Fate-chan, what are you saying?"

Fate had to grasp her momentum again. There was no turning back now. She had to expose her feelings with no reservations. She put a knee on the floor.

"Do you realize it now, Nanoha, why I asked you about us? I'm not sure what kind of relationship we have, or at least how to classify it. Everyone sees us as a couple, we live together, raise a daughter, _our daughter_, but… I need to know if… well, what I feel… or if you feel, I…"

The ideas inside Fate's head were racing at hundreds of miles per hour. She tried unsuccessfully to organize her ideas, so she was starting to stutter.

Better than any answer she could think of, Nanoha reduced the distance between them and without a second thought, put her arms around Fate. Her mouth anxiously searched for Fate's and all the pain she was feeling disappeared as soon as their lips met. Fate felt Nanoha's lips over hers and immediately knew the difference between this kiss and Signum's. Time almost stood still. One of her hands found its way to Nanoha's neck, while with the other Fate tried to keep balance, by placing it in the floor. Fate felt in heaven, she had dreamed about this moment countless times up to the point she really thought it was never going to happen. She had tried with all her might to keep her feelings towards Nanoha to herself, but those feelings always found a way out, no matter how hard she tried to hide them. She could taste the sweetness of Nanoha's lips and she clung to Fate like she had never before. The position they were in was pretty uncomfortable, and her arm would not hold both their weights for much longer. She tried to resist but her arm gave in and she fell on her back to the floor. The second blow she received was when Nanoha landed in top of her.

Nanoha stood up and burst into laughter. Nanoha's laughter was not only delightful, it was soothing. Fate took a deep breath and graciously stood up in a snap. Once again, Nanoha launched herself to Fate and embraced her. For Fate it was a position so natural, as she could feel the way their bodies molded perfectly.

"Fate-chan, I'm such an idiot."

"Please don't say that."

"But I am. I'm an idiot who has been in love with you for a long time and I had not dared accept it."

Fate sighed.

"Nanoha, then we are both a couple of idiots because I have been in love with you since we were 9." She laughed a bit and continued. "Well, maybe not since we were 9 but I do know that since we were 9 I started caring for you and that love just grew bigger and has never found a stop sign," she told her as she stroked her hair.

Fate sat comfortably on the couch and then sat Nanoha on her lap, so she could cuddle with her.

"I think it was very similar to me Fate-chan, maybe a little earlier. The first time I saw your eyes, the world was different to me. Even if you were determined to finish me."

Fate put her arms around Nanoha's waist.

"Why did it took us so long the realize how good it feels to kiss you, Nanoha?"

This was Nanoha's time to blush and Fate could not help but laugh.

"Don't say that kind of things."

"Why not? It's so true!"

"Well, you might be right after all," and to make sure of it she got closer to the other girl again, stopping a few inches short to breathe her breath. Without being able to resist for more than a few moments, this time it was Fate who captured Nanoha's mouth with hers. She could feel her lips parting and she took advantage to search Nanoha's tongue with her own. Both of them started to feel more agitated as Nanoha's hands started exploring Fate's back beneath the shirt. Their kiss grew more intense and Fate was sure this time she was bound to explode. They both started gasping for air and her mind started to blur.

"Nanoha-mama? Fate-mama?" Vivio's voice surprised them both.

An intense wave of heat flooded their cheeks, already flustered by the excitement.

Vivio approached them cautiously, observing them just as one might observe experimental bugs. The silent inspection lasted a few seconds, seconds Fate used to link her fingers with Nanoha's.

"Hello, Vivio", Nanoha dared to say, feeling her own redness.

A huge smile appeared in Vivio's face when, in admirable fashion, she tried and succeeded at sitting in Nanoha's lap, just as Nanoha was sitting in Fate's.

"Whoa!" Fate exclaimed when she lost the air in her lungs.

"Nanoha-mama, you do love Fate-mama a lot, right?" the little girl asked.

Nanoha answered affirmatively just as Fate pondered how smart was her kid.

For Vivio, a one-side answer was not enough so she asked exactly the same question to Fate, who true to her own nature, could not help but blush. Fate let go of Nanoha's hand and hugged them both as hard as she could at the same time she told them they were the most important thing in her life. Vivio smiled satisfied, and not unlike any other 7-year old, she leaned on Nanoha's shoulder and it was just a matter of seconds before she was back to sleep.

"I think she already fell asleep" Nanoha whispered to Fate.

Fate, almost breathless managed to whisper back. "That's wonderful, do you think you can carry her back to her bed. I'm starting to have trouble breathing."

Nanoha giggled, got up and carefully carried Vivio back to her room. In the meantime Fate stretched her body. She felt her blood flowing again to parts of her body that had gone numb. Restored, she went to Vivio's room where Nanoha was standing at the door's frame. She stood exactly behind Nanoha, she leaned down her head to Nanoha's shoulder and circled her waist with her arms.

"She's just like you, you know?" Fate whispered so she would not wake Vivio up again.

"Sweetheart, the lack of oxygen is getting lasting effects on you. Clearly, she is just like you."

Fate hugged her a bit tighter. She had called her 'Sweetheart', she could definitely get used to that.

Nanoha started feeling the weight of Fate on her was increasing. She raised her hand to the blonde's mane and idly stroked her hair. "Fate-chan, are you falling asleep standing up?"

"Hmmm?" was the only answer she received.

"Your mission must have been exhausting, and with our own drama you must be totally worn out. Let's get you to bed right now."

"Hmmm?" was again the only thing Fate could murmur.

Not without an effort, she almost dragged Fate to their room where she placed her in the bed, and after taking her shoes off, she felt an electric shock travel through her body as she took Fate's skirt off. It was not the first time she did that, but the feeling that had just filled her, was definitely a new one.

_Nanoha, stop thinking that._

And yet, it was impossible not to have those thoughts as she saw Fate lying in bed . She could not stop watching her. It was not the first time she spent time just watching her sleep, but it was the first time she had a lot of urges to restrain. She wanted to explore her whole body with the tip of her fingers, with her lips, every inch of her white skin.

_Get a grip, Nanoha._ She scolded herself. _There will be time for that._

She got undressed real quickly and after putting on her pajamas, she went to bed, as close as she could get to Fate as to not wake her up. Unconsciously, Fate turned to her and stretched one of her arms possessively over her. That position in particular was probably not the most comfortable one to sleep in, but she couldn't think of a place she'd rather be.

… … … … … … …

Morning arrived and the first rays of sunlight entered through the window of the master bedroom of the Takamachi home. Fate opened her eyes lazily, trying to focus her sight. Neither Bardiche nor Nanoha were waking her up. She couldn't remember the last time she had woken up on her own. Last night's memories started to sink in. _They were memories, right? It had actually happened, or not?_ She tried moving one of her arms and clumsily it moved. She felt a tickle in her nose, it was Nanoha's chestnut hair and she was holding to her arm dearly. _It really happened._ She felt overwhelmed with happiness and could not help feeling a little aroused when she noticed Nanoha's breast rubbing ritmically against her. Watching her sleep was spellbinding. She was sure that, if she hadn't already been madly in love with the woman beside her, she would have fallen completely for her right now. She wanted to do so many things with that perfect body, her mind drifted away and considered the thought of sharing the shower with her seemed like a pretty good idea. Her natural reaction was immediate, and a little color invaded her face.

"What are you thinking about, Fate-chan?" Nanoha inquired.

Along with other mysteries in the history of humanity, Fate couldn't start to understand how Nanoha could wake up and be perfectly alert the next second. For Fate, to get to that state took at least one hour. She kissed her lightly on the disheveled hair.

"I'm just thinking of how happy I am."

Nanoha reached to her and gave her a light lip lock.

"I'm going to get your shower ready, and your breakfast in the meantime. Vivio should be awake any time soon, and you know how hungry she is in the morning", said Nanoha brightly.

Fate considered for a moment inviting Nanoha to the shower. It seemed like a good idea, or would it be considered going to fast? Well, fast depending on the point of view, considering the time they had already been together. Of course, now the concept of 'together' had adopted a new meaning. And yet, she could feel something was still missing, she had to…

"Fate-chan, get in the shower already!" She could hear Nanoha's voice from the kitchen.

Fate's train of thoughts came to an abrupt end.

"Yes mom!" Fate shouted back with one foot in the shower.

* * *

**Author's Note:** What can I say, I think I'll just keep thanking everyone! I still do not own (boohoo) any of the characters.


	6. New Habits

**Chapter 6. New Habits**

Fate turned off the alarm of her car. It felt so good to drive it again.

"I haven't seen Hayate in a million years," Fate commented. "I'm really happy to see her again."

"Hai," Nanoha agreed.

"So, who else is going to be at this breakfast, Nanoha?" Fate asked a bit shyly.

"Hayate and her guardians should be there, unless any of them has any official duty."

"Aha…" Fate was sure things were fine between Nanoha and her, but it wouldn't hurt to make sure.

"Fate-chan, are you worried that out of sheer jealousy I might strike a Starlight Breaker towards Signum?"

"Nanoha, please don't read my mind like that!"

"Hmmm if I read your mind I think I can find much more interesting ideas," Nanoha answered naughtily, which only caused both of them to blush at the thought.

They both laughed as Fate adjusted her car into automatic transmission with voice commands.

"Automatic mode?" Nanoha asked quite surprised. "Are you feeling OK?"

Nanoha could swear Fate had never in her life driven her car with the automatic transmission.

"I think I could try it today since it gives me a lot of freedom," Fate answered with a slightly playful tone.

"Freedom?"

"Yeah, because now instead of focusing on shifting speeds, I can do this," and to finish her sentence she slid her hand from the gear shift to Nanoha's knee.

Nanoha couldn't find an answer to counter and Fate sped to the city's downtown. One thing was clear to her, Nanoha enjoyed the warm feeling of Fate's fingers gently rubbing her knee. It was almost like a sign of possessiveness that didn't bother her at all.

… … … … … … …

The restaurant was full of people. Everywhere you looked at you could see waiters twirling from table to table, serving all kinds of exotic dishes. The decoration of the place was eclectic at best. Little trinkets adorned every possible free space on the walls, giving the place a magical feeling to it.

An area of the restaurant seemed apart from the rest. Flaunted with a delicate fountain, a large table reunited a cheerful group. Hayate was lively chatting with Vita, while Signum, on the other side of the table looked a little distracted. Shamal looked at her with a sweet expression on her face.

"Hayate!" Nanoha's voice made its way over the already noisy restaurant. She waved her hand at her, while with her other hand pulled a deeply blushed Fate, not used to be led hand to hand, as they made their way through the maze of tables.

"Nanoha-chan! Fate-chan! You're here!" Hayate all but jumped out of her chair to greet them with a gigantic hug.

"Fate-chan it's so nice to see you, we hadn't seen each other in a long time," her long-time friend told her.

At the same time Hayate and Fate were greeting each other, Nanoha did the same with Vita and Shamal. She beamed a smile at Signum when she greeted her, and told her in a serene, but no less frightening, voice, "I could really make you suffer for having dared to touch my Fate-chan's lips."

Signum felt the color in her face drain and so did Fate.

"I ahh…" Signum could barely mumble.

Hayate, Vita and Shamal cried out at the same time, "You did what, Signum!"

"Nanoha, my love, you can't be serious!" Fate blurted.

Nanoha burst into laughter.

"Of course not, but with what you just said, I don't think we have any more explaining to do!"

Fate slowly turned to see the faces of her friends, all of them flabbergasted at hearing Fate refer to Nanoha as 'my love'.

Hayate was the one to break the silence.

"So you are _finally_ using romantic pet-names between you two? It was about time, if you ask me. I was losing my hope in you!" Hayate exclaimed delighted.

Fate was sure her head would surely explode one day if she kept blushing so much. Her color almost matched Signum's, who was just as flustered.

They enojoyed their time at the restaurant, sharing stories and catching up on what everyone had donde in the time they hadn't seen each other. Hayate had always juicy information, you might consider it as gossips, but that word certainly did not apply to such an distinguished person like Hayate. Vita was still assisting Nanoha in her training so her stories basically consisted in how much she enjoyed terrifying her naïve students. Shamal was enjoying a high position in the health sector of the TSAB and was directing several researches in the medical field. No one could deny it was a very successful group. The new couple, of course, was not spared of all kinds of question asked. Hayate and the rest wanted to know everything. To reduce the attention on them, they would talk about different things, but it was impossible not to talk about the most important news of the day, Fate and Nanoha were officially a couple now.

"See, Testarossa, I told you things would turn out just fine. Nanoha, I would also like to tell you what I told Testarossa last night. You are both very lucky to have each other" Signum said solemnly.

Shamal took out a tissue. She was overwhelmed with emotion to see them so in love. Even Vita allowed herself to smile at them, seeing the lovely image of them holding hands at the table.

Signum continued talking. "I also owe you an apology. You really scared me this morning."

Everyone laughed and Hayate added: "Remember she isn't called the White Devil just because, Signum. I don't think anyone in their right mind would want to pick a fight with Nanoha, not even as cute and sweet as she looks."

It was Nanoha's turn to blush again, although she didn't lose the chance to speak up. "You don't have anything to apologize for, Signum. What happened between you two, even though I obviously can't say I liked it, and I have to accept I may have been tempted to Starlight Breaker both of you for a second, may have been necessary after all."

"But…" Signum was starting to say something.

"Nanoha, I had never any doubts of how I feel about you!" Fate protested.

Nanoha took Fate's hand in her own and kissed her knuckles at the same time she looked directly to her eyes.

"That incident, as unpleasant as it was for me to witness, was what made me understand a lot of things. In that moment I realized that everything I wanted I had had it in front of me for years, and the moment I finally realized that, seemed to be the moment I was losing it. Losing you, Fate-chan. Strange as it may seem, it is me the one who has to thank you, Signum."

If Shamal thought she had already cried a lot of happy tears, she was wrong. Upon hearing Nanoha's words, she started to cry again. Signum sighed in relief, while Hayate and Vita couldn't help but laugh at the melodramatic reactions of her partners.

A while later, after even more conversations shared between all of them, Fate raised up from her seat.

"Nanoha, I've got to get going now. Here's the ticket from the valet-parking."

"Are you sure you don't want to take your car?"

"Nah, that's OK. Besides, I won't be gone for long."

"Where are you going, Fate?" Hayate asked

"I want to drop by Yuuno and Arf in the Library. There's some data I'd like to review myself."

"Tell them we say 'Hi'," they all said.

"You got it", Fate answered at the same time she stepped away from the table.

A step later, she felt a heavy look over her shoulder.

"You wouldn't go without saying good-by to me, right?" Nanoha interrogated her.

"I… ahh…" Clumsily, Fate backtracked to Nanoha, not quite sure of what she had to do or not do. A good number of thoughts must have crossed her mind, because, obviously, her face was starting to color again.

Nanoha thought it was cruel to leave her in such an awkward position, and although she was enjoying the sight of a flustered Fate, she stood up right next to her and seductively placed her hand in Fate's waist to, very much to everyone's surprise, gave her a quick kiss on the lips.

"There, you're free to go now," she winked at her while everyone else was still in awe. Fate managed to somehow get out without tripping over any chair, waiter, client or anything that might have crossed her path. What just had happened was strange to her, but the she couldn't feel happier, so it was just a matter of getting used to these new habits, and she knew it wasn't going to be difficult at all.

Before exiting the restaurant she turned around to the table where her friends were still eagerly talking with each other. She could not help letting a single sigh out and saw Nanoha turn around to see her. They shared a meaningful look before each one continued with what they were doing.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm glad to see so many people taking the time to read, I can't start to thank you enough. I hope you enjoy the little bits of more mundane aspects from the life of Nanoha and Fate. I like writing about the aspects of a "normal"life, although there's a little action and a lot of romance coming up in the next chapters.

R&R and I'll be forever grateful. Who'd have thought reading reviews to my little creation would become an addiction? LOL


	7. Revelations

**Chapter 7. Revelations**

The hallways of the Infinite Library were really amazing. Fate had only been there once before and she had not had the time to explore it carefully. It must really be quite an exceptional feat to maintain that place in order. There was no doubt Yuuno and Arf were doing a great job there.

"Fate!" Arf shouted from one end of the hallway. One second later, Arf leaped towards her and threw herself into Fate's arms. Fate was glad she had reacted on time, otherwise they would both be flat on their butts in the floor.

"Arf!" Fate exclaimed back visibly happy. "This is a library, shouldn't we be, I don't know, keeping it quiet?" She asked her rather amused.

Arf replied a little embarrassed. "Well there's no one around, at least not in this hallway. So, how have you been? What have you done? And Nanoha? And Vivio? Is everything all right?"

Fate went a little dizzy with all the questions Arf was asking without giving her any time to answer at all.

"Take it easy Arf, I will tell you everything in a moment, but before that I'd like to know if Yuuno would have some time to spare me?" she asked a little more anxious than she should be.

"Yuuno, let me see… he should be in the relics section. He's been updating the collection with some information he received from the TSAB. Come on, I'll lead you to him."

Fate thanked her and, as expected, the walk through the hallways of the Infinite Library were a little longer than you would expect from a regular library, so she used the time to fill Arf in about everything that had happened in her last weeks, especially her new relationship with Nanoha.

"So the two of you are girlfriends now?" Arf asked.

_Good question_, Fate thought to herself. "Well, now that you put it that way, we haven't actually said anything specific…"

"So, once again you are both assuming what's going on, without straightening it up?"

Fate bit her lip nervously. Arf was right. It was really amazing the way she and Nanoha could understand each other without words, but sometimes, it wouldn't hurt to actually say out loud some important things.

"You're right of course. Thanks a lot Arf, I don't know what I'd do without you," Fate told her at the same time she was putting her arm around her shoulders, and, with the other, shaking her hair playfully.

"I am really happy for you Fate. I always noticed how Nanoha could bring a smile to your face, but now you are just beaming. Here we are."

"Fate, what are you doing here?" Yuuno asked as soon as he saw his friend.

"Hey Yuuno, sorry to stop by without making an appointment but tomorrow I have to be back to my base and I wanted to check some things with you, if you have the time, that is."

"Come on Fate, you know you obviously do not have to make an appointment to see us," laughed Yuuno. "So tell me, what can I do for you?"

"Well considering you are an exceptional renowned archaeologist and the Infinite Librarian I wanted to know if you had any idea of what this could be," she told him extending her right hand towards him.

In her hand were the silver rings she had picked up before.

Yuuno looked at them for a moment, adjusted his glasses, then looked directly at her and asked, "Are these for Nanoha and you?"

"I … well, I found them and just wanted to know more about them. I haven't considered anything really, I just wanted to know if you might know something," Fate answered deeply embarrassed. _To everyone's eyes, had they already been a real couple?_

Yuuno laughed and took the rings. "Uhmm, they seem to have a frail sense of magic to them. I'm sure you must have felt it too?"

Fate nodded in agreement.

"I'm not exactly sure about its origin but considering the carvings in them I think I know where to start looking for information. Let's go Arf, we have lots of work to do!" Yuuno looked quite excited.

He had always liked challenges, and even though Fate didn't actually tell him, he knew this was important to her and, obviously, to Nanoha too.

"Yuu-Yuuno, I don't want to cause any trouble, I'm sure you have real work to do." Fate told him quite worried.

Lost in the distance of yet another hallway she managed to hear Yuuno's words. "Leave it to me, I'll you know the momement I find anythiiiiing."

Fate giggled a bit and sighed in relief. She really had the best friends she could ever had hoped to have. It was time to get back, if she was lucky she might be able to make it home to see Nanoha and Vivio before she had to get back to her base.

… … … … … … … …

It was a little past two in the morning when she finally got back home. She would get some good 3 hours of quality-sleep with Nanoha if she wanted to be at her office on time. Her home was as silent as it could be so she tip-toed her way to Vivio's room. She was deeply comforted by the image of her daughter sleeping peacefully in her bed. She kissed her good-night and smoothed the sheets of her bed.

Fate was really tired, and her eyes were threatening to shut down. Dragging her feet she made it to her room. A bundle under the sheets indicated the place where Nanoha was sleeping. She undressed and slid into bed trying her best not to wake her up. Next to her, as close as possible, she buried her face in Nanoha's hair to breath her in. Before falling completely asleep she reached her hand across Nanoha's arm to feel her close.

… … … … … … … …

Waking up to a kiss in the lips had to be the best feeling in the world, Fate acknowledged still half-dreaming. Especially if those lips belonged to Nanoha Takamachi.

"Wake up sleepy-head or you're going to be late." Fate somehow heard Nanoha's voice from far away.

Fate opened her eyes, taking her time. She saw Nanoha already dressed up and ready.

"You are really going to be late," Nanoha insisted.

Fate yawned. "Ou, Nanoha, why are you already up? Do you have an early training?"

"No, I just wanted to make sure you had everything set."

Nanoha spoiled her a lot, that much she could be sure of.

"I'm coming." Her eyes saddened a bit. "I don't want to go…"

The chestnut haired girl turned around to see her, and in her eyes she was able to see a similar sadness.

"Don't say that, it's your job…"

"It's never been easy to say good-bye for now, but now, I'm getting used to this new 'us' thing…" She suddenly remembered Arf's words. She had to speak up, but her natural reserved way of being didn't make it any easier for her. Putting those thoughts aside, at the same time she dressed up, she tried to set straight her thoughts.

She brushed her hair back with her fingers and approached Nanoha. She took her hands and talked to her, locking herself in Nanoha's deep blue gaze.

"I really really don't want to go, but I would be much easier if you answered me something."

Nanoha felt her heart racing almost out of her own body, and before Fate could say anything else she just said "I do".

Fate blinked twice.

"You do? But I still haven't said a thing."

"Whatever you are going to ask me the answer is 'I do'."

_Do not leave certain things unsaid_, Fate thought to herself.

"Nanoha, would you be my girlfriend? Fate dared to ask, trying her best not to blush furiously.

"You see, I knew the answer was 'I do'." Nanoha smiled at her. "I do want to be your girlfriend, Fate-chan."

Fate let go of Nanoha's hands delicately and brought them to Nanoha's face, pulling her together in a kiss where she could only make her feel how much she loved her and how much she was going to miss her. Nanoha could taste the anxiety in Fate's kiss. With her hands she held to the flaps of Fate's uniform pulling her even closer. She broke off the kiss to say the words that were to be said a long time ago, this time with its full meaning. Deep blue met staggering red and pronounced the words she couldn't keep to herself anymore.

"I love you Fate-chan."

"I love you, Nanoha."Fate could barely answer before being pulled in again into Nanoha's kiss.

A movement caught Nanoha's attention and against her will, pulled away from Fate.

Standing in the stairs was Vivio, holding her bunny dearly.

"Mama", she said with a clear and confident.

Nanoha and Fate answered simultaneously. Nanoha walked towards Vivio and reached out her hand. It was too soon for her to explain this new aspects of her life with Fate, she hadn't thougt exactly what or, even worse, how to tell Vivio. The last thing she wanted to do was confuse her.

"Nanoha-mama and Fate-mama love each other like the others kids' parents?"

_Vivio really cuts to the chase,_ Fate thought surprised.

"Yes Vivio, is that ok with you?" Nanoha answered immediately. They were not going to lie to her, that was for sure, and the fact that she was the one asking them directly somehow eased things up.

"Yes," Vivio answered.

Vivio held her arms up towards Fate so the blonde would raise her up. She complied and Vivio put her arms around Fate's neck.

"I know Fate-mama takes care of me and Nanoha-mama as she promised but I thought the parents of my friends loved each other more. I was wrong." Vivio stated with a wide smile.

"_I never thought Vivio would feel like that"_, Nanoha told Fate mind to mind.

"_Neither did I. I think we still have a lot to learn about raising a daughter_", Fate confessed to Nanoha feeling a little guilty.

"_Yes, we do."_

"When are you getting back, Fate-mama?"

Fate was overwhelmed with reality again. She had to get going and she wouldn't be back for three weeks. Three weeks away from Nanoha. She hadn't left yet and she was already missing her. She had no idea how she was going to deal being away from her.

Nanoha could read Fate's face as easily as reading an open book. She took her hand and squeezed it supportively.

"Three weeks is not that long. You've been away longer than that."

"I know, but this time it's different."

"You're right it is different. This time, us, our family, is stronger than before."

Fate knew Nanoha was absolutely right.

"I still have time to have breakfast with my girls, so why don't we check out what amazing breakfast has Nanoha-mama prepared for us?" Fate asked Vivio.

"Yay, I'm hungry!" Vivio exclaimed delighted.

… … … … … … … …

"So, you could say this things are like sexual enhancers?" Arf asked laughing.

Yuuno looked flustered. He was not used to talk about these topics, least of all with a girl.

"That's not quite right Arf. The civilization that created these objects started having a lot of trouble, due to infertility. The problem was so dramatic that they had to resort to this magical rings to strengthen the bond of a couple. They thought that it would help them conceive the babies they were not being able to conceive."

"Well that sure worked from them" Arf said sarcastically. "After all the civilization ended up disappearing."

"Unfortunately, that's what happened. There is no evidence that the rings actually fulfilled their purpose. And although these rings are rare, some exist in private collections. As a collectable item, they are quite rare, especially considering this is a pair, the ones found were usually singles."

"I wonder how Fate found them. I don't see her participating in auctions, spending loads of money in them."

"Neither do I, but you shouldn't ask if you do not want to know the answer", Yuuno laughed.

"I don't think it was anything illegal."

"I'm sure of that. Well, let's get going back, it would be wise to document our findings on these rings. Would you send a copy to Fate and send her rings back? I have some meetings in the afternoon and I promised to let her know as soon as we found information on them."

"Absolutely, I'll take care of it."


	8. The First Night

**Chapter 8. The First Night**

Time seemed to have slowed down, or at least, that's what Fate felt every night. Fortunately for her, during the day, she had so much work she couldn't waste a minute of it. However, when late at night it was time for her to leave her office to go to her dorm at the base, the story was entirely different. She missed her, every second of every minute. She wanted to hear her voice, she wanted to feel the warmth of her hands between hers, and she wanted to savor her lips. She felt like a teenager, and that feeling included the out of control hormones, she thought rather amused.

_What could Nanoha be doing right now?" _she thought. _Is she thinking about me? Is she missing me as much as I'm missing her? Surely not_, she answered her own questions. Nanoha was much more devoted to her job. When they worked together in the Riot Force 6, there were times Nanoha completely lost track of time and would only realize how late it was when Fate had already gone looking for her to drag her out of her office. Of course, that had changed a little when Vivio entered their lives.

Days went by without anything worth noting. Most of her investigations were stale and that was starting to worry her. Late in the week she received a special delivery from the Infinite Library. Arf was the sender. Full of curiosity, Fate opened the package and found her two shimmering silver rings inside. Along with them, a video-note and a data card completed the shipment. In the note Arf explained to her briefly, very briefly, the conclusions Yuuno and she had drawn about the rings.

_They sure are an interesting finding, _Fate talked to herself. She wondered about the story they brought with them. Perhaps they had belonged to an important couple that had loved each other devoutly and wanted to start a family. He, the notable heir of a wealthy family. She, the brave daughter of an important merchant. Fate allowed her imagination to fly a little more. Deeply in love, they tried by all means to conceive their child, to establish a family. Family. For a moment she pictured herself before turning nine. She would have never guessed her life would have turned out the way it did. She had the most perfect family and she was happy. Everything she had, she had because Nanoha had been so relentlessly determined to talk to her. Fate's life changed course the moment their paths crossed. She could never thank her enough. She took a closer look at the rings and gave thanks she had not had to resort to them to be able to have a family and felt deeply blessed.

… … … … … … … …

"Well guys, that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed today's session."

The elite force of young mages looked wide-eyed at their instructor. The training shouldn't be ending for another 4 hours, but their instructor, apparently, had different plans.

"I think you all have put in a lot of effort, and you have improved a lot, as well, so I want you all to dedicate the rest of the day to do what each one of you enjoys the most. It's good to remember that you have the right, no, let me rephrase that, the duty to have a personal life, so go out and enjoy. Treasure every instant. I want you here, on time next Monday to continue the great job you have all done so far."

Her group looked quite cheerful and, after saluting at their instructor, they all scattered noisily. Nanoha looked at them pleased. She really enjoyed her work and she knew she was good at it. She knew that, potentially, she could do much more things. She even had the power to face evil and destroy it, but she preferred taking an alternate approach. She wanted to prepare the future advocates in charge of the peace. She firmly believed that if you could convey her beliefs in each of them, the future would be a bright one. That was her way of ensuring a safe future for her daughter. Of course, she knew that in case of extreme urgency, she was part of the active TSAB's force squad, and they trusted in her powers and abilities to defeat anyone who might be a threat to the order and peace.

"Today's a good day, Raising Heart."

"Yes, my master. Bardiche's ETA is 12 minutes."

"Say what?" Nanoha shrieked. "12 minutes? I won't be able to be ready in 12 minutes! Raising Heart, we have to hurry!"

She clenched her precious red orb in her hand and hurried to the parking lot. Since last night she had left everything settled. Vivio would be picked up by Zafira when she got out of school and they were going to spend the weekend at Hayate's. For Vivio, that could only mean one thing, loads of fun. Shamal and Vita spoiled her so much, and Hayate and Signum were no different at all.

Nanoha started to feel skittish. You could say she was about to have a date with Fate. It seemed strange. For them, the natural progression of events was clearly not in the usual order. You could think that a couple first had dates, then the commitment grows between them and later, kids complete the picture. The thing was that, right now, all she cared about was that she wanted to see her and if she didn't hurry, Fate would be home before she did, and her meticulous plan would be ruined.

As soon as she arrived to the parking lot she got into Fate's car. She buckled up and wished to know how to drive it as well as Fate did. Nanoha was a master speeding in the sky, but earthly speed was Fate's domain. She had to settle driving as usual and went home. Once she arrived, she laid the table and finished preparing the meal she had cooked the night before. It was their favorite menu, crowned with a sinful dessert, the specialty of Midori-ya, and Fate's favorite. When she finally thought the table looked good, she went upstairs to change her clothes. Nanoha chose a simple and light white dress she fancied a lot. She did not have many opportunities to dress up like that, aside the Bureau's charity cocktails to which she was always invited. She liked dressing up, she enjoyed feeling feminine and wanted to show off to the only eyes she wanted to be seen by.

She heard the main door opening.

"Is anyone home?" She could hear Fate's voice downstairs.

"I'll be right down!"

Fate went directly into the kitchen, waiting for Nanoha to come down. She wanted to see her, but didn't want to look so desperate. She froze still when she saw the table, carefully decorated. Candles and glasses of wine were delicately placed, a reception for two.

"Do you like it?" Nanoha asked behind her.

"It's beautiful. I feel terribly undressed for this occasion…" Fate started saying when she turned around to see her. She felt her blood pounding in her throat as soon as she laid her eyes on her.

Nanoha looked simply ravishing. She almost forgot to breathe. It seemed as if she were shining with a mesmerizing light. Fate literally let her jaw drop as she let her gaze go up and down.

"Don't say that, you always look gorgeous, even in your official uniform", she told her while she locked her arms behind Fate's neck, and didn't waste any more time to fuse her mouth with hers.

"You look amazing. I think I could stare at you forever", Fate told her trying not to end their kiss. "Where's Vivio?" she asked, gently brushing Nanoha's bare back with her fingers.

"She's with Hayate and the rest. They have all their weekend planned." Nanoha answered with a seductive smile.

"Aha…" Fate lifted a brow, considering the possibilities. "You and me, alone for the weekend?" she asked with a smile that brightened her face. Suddenly she felt a little bad. "That sounded too selfish, right?"

"Don't worry sometimes I feel the same way. I think it's normal. Besides we both know she's in good hands."

Fate thought she would never stop being baffled by the easiness they had to talk and kiss at the same time. She could also feel her breathing shifting speeds. Her hands were taking more liberties in Nanoha's back, and she wasn't objecting at all, since Nanoha's hands were pretty much roaming freely in Fate's body too.

They were starting to breathe irregularly and Fate could feel the intense heat that filled her cheeks, but this time her blushing was of a different nature. What she was feeling was not shame at all. She noticed Nanoha's fingers unbuttoning her shirt. A wave of heat was engulfing her and what Nanoha was doing was definitely not going to quench the fire in her. In a sudden rush, she lifted Nanoha in her arms. Bewildered, Nanoha looked at her.

"I'm sorry, I think I got a little carried away", she said, looking at Fate's half-unbuttoned shirt.

"That's not it. I just thought we might continue this somewhere else", she told her as she carried her to their bedroom. "Besides, it's nice to be in the other side of this position, for a change", she laughed.

Nanoha remembered the first time she carried Fate in her arms. So much time had passed since that day and a lot of things had changed too.

Fate laid her in their bed. With her eyes she asked, and saw the answer in those blue eyes she could die for. Kissing her was becoming as natural as breathing, and although she had only being doing it for a short time, it just seemed as essential to her. In one movement she threw her jacket out off the bed and kept kissing her. Nanoha's skin was so soft and pure, maybe not as pale as hers, more like a delicate pink. She moved back from her mouth and started trailing kisses in one side of her face, by the jaw line, in her chin, in her nose. A fire kept growing inside her and she wanted to burst right now, but at the same time she wanted to take her time to taste her.

With one finger Fate drew a line, starting in Nanoha's ear, continuing it on the side her face and down her neck. She let it lay there for some seconds while she looked for her gaze. She kept going down, carefully between her breasts until the end of the cleavage of her dress. She noticed immediately the change in her own heartbeat, and Nanoha's uneven breathing told her, she was feeling very much the same things. Nanoha couldn't resist herself anymore and finished unbuttoning Fate's shirt and helped her discard the piece of clothing that stood in her way.

Fate felt little goosebumps, when her skin started to make direct contact with Nanoha's. She wasn't very sure on what she should do. She had seen movies, which were not graphical enough, but so far it seemed Nanoha was enjoying as much as she was.

Suddenly, Nanoha grasped both her arms and skillfully turned over to be on top now. She slid down seductively and very quickly had Fate out of her stockings and skirt. Nanoha stopped a second to watch her. Fate's body was beautiful beyond compare. She wet her lips with her tongue, a gesture she couldn't fight back seeing her down to her underwear. Fate just stayed still watching Nanoha's every movement.

"What is it?" she asked a little embarrassed.

"I'm just enjoying watching how beautiful you are, and that you are mine and only mine," Nanoha answered while Fate stood up.

The blonde placed herself behind Nanoha, and slowly she started unzipping her dress. Unlike her, Nanoha wasn't wearing a bra, so before her the lower part of her back was exposed. Without taking Nanoha's dress off, she started kissing her back and wrapped her hands around her waist and let her fingers linger just below her breast. Nanoha closed her eyes trying to absorb every feeling detonated by Fate's touch. She suddenly felt Fate's hand closing over one of her breasts. The touch made Fate shiver and Nanoha let out a moan of pleasure. She turned around to kiss Fate and Fate claimed possession with her hands over her firm and beautiful breasts. Purely guided by their own instincts and needs they continued exploring their sensitive spots as they traveled together in a new ocean of feelings and emotions.

… … … … … … … …

"I love you with all my heart, Nanoha." Fate murmured to the girl currently glued to her.

"Not nearly as much as I love you", Nanoha replied while drawing invisible lines over Fate's arm.

A sudden growl distracted her.

"What was that? Fate-chan, you're starving!"

"Huh, me? Not at all," was Fate's immediate answer.

_How long had they been in bed? It could not have been more than an hour. _She turned around to see the clock in the table of her side of the bed.

"How can it be more than 9? I arrived here a little past 5," she sounded genuinely surprised.

"We all know time flies by when you're having a good time, Fate-chan. So reconsider your answer wisely," Nanoha smiled. "Are you sure you're not hungry?"

"Awww" Fate couldn't help but blush. She accepted she felt nearly famished. She felt renewed but the intense activity also consumed her energies. "I think I could eat the base's entire food supplies," Fate accepted guiltily.

Nanoha rose from the bed and started picking up the scattered clothes that were all over the bedroom.

"It seemed like we were on a hurry, huh?" Nanoha told her, throwing Fate's clothes towards her.

"Just a little, a few years of waiting, perhaps, how hasty could we be?" Fate answered laughing. "Although I think I want to wear something else, I really want to look as well-dressed as you do. In that dress you really look stunning."

Fate chose a strapless long black dress that accentuated every curve of her body. She left her hair down as usual. Holdng hands with Nanoha, they went down the stairs to where their table was waiting for them.

They shared the perfect evening. The food was simply delicious, and couldn't ask for better company than being with each other. The talked a lot, they held their hands sharing meaningful looks without having to say any word at all, the just enjoyed the pleasure of being with each other. They were used to turning on the TV for a while after having dinner, and today was no exception. It was part of their home rituals. This time, they both sat in the couch in such a way that had Fate hugging Nanoha. In that privileged position, she could caress her girlfriend as much as she wanted, because now, it seemed impossible to keep her hands off her.

"Nanoha", Fate whispered to hear playfully teasing her earlobe with her lips.

"Mmmm" was Nanoha's only answer. Pretty much like the same noises she had being doing since they started watching TV.

"Can we go back to bed?"

"I thought you would never ask."

Again and again they experimented on the endless possibilities of showing their love, until they were completely exhausted. Late at night, or maybe it was already really early in the morning, Fate could feel Nanoha sleeping beside her. The warmth of her naked body intoxicated her. This had been the first night of many more to come that she would spend making love to the woman she loved more than life itself. She had never felt the peace of mind that filled her right now. She could not feel happier.

… … … … … … … …

On Saturday they barely went out of bed to eat.

… … … … … … … …

Fate waked up on Sunday completely revitalized, full of energy. Nanoha waked up a little after and cuddled with her.

"What do you want to do today, Fate-chan?"

"What are my options?", the blonde asked.

"We can do anything you want," she answered.

"I would really like to stay making love to you all day long," Fate answered making Nanoha blush. "But there's a little internal voice that's telling me I should be a good mother, so why don't we go and spend the day with Vivio and all the rest?"

"I think that's great idea. We have to get ready if we want to catch up with them at the lake."

"Ok." Fate got out of bed and held out her hand towards Nanoha. "Come with me."

Somewhat puzzled, Nanoha took her hand and also got out of bed.

"Come on", she sounded a little too naughty. "I want to fulfill certain fantasy of mine," she told her as she guided her to the shower.

It shouldn't have surprised either of them that sharing the shower, did not save time at all.

Fate was finishing dressing up. She had picked a pair of white shorts, and at Nanoha's express request, a sleeveless black full-buttoned shirt. Nanoha did Fate's hair just as she looked when she was 9.

_What can I do?_, Fate thought. _Nanoha's wishes are my command. _She looked at her reflection in the mirror and decided she didn't look half bad at all. It was just weird to see herself as a bigger version of her 9-year-old self.

Nanoha decided to wear a blue skirt and an orange sleeveless tank top. The day threatened to be a hot one.

"Are you ready, sweetheart?" Nanoha asked.

"Yes, I just…" Fate's speech was ended with something that sounded like the grumble of a small animal.

"Fate-chan! How on earth can you be that hungry?" Nanoha exclaimed rather amused after recognizing the origin of that sound. "Give me a second. Get our stuff ready in the car." After saying this, she rushed to the kitchen.

Fate dutifully followed Nanoha's instructions. She gathered all the things they had to bring. Sun lotion was a must, sunglasses, towels, etc. She packed everything in a humongous bag and went to her car. Nanoha went a few steps behind her, holding besides another big bag, a little picnic basket.

"Guess what here's for you, Fate-chan!" she asked her as got inside the car.

"Arigato, Nanoha" she answered with a big smile, guessing the delicious contents of the basket. Once again, she turned on the automatic mode of her car.

"It now turns out that you prefer the automatic mode, Fate-chan?" Nanoha teased.

"I really had never considered its benefits", she answered while sliding her hand towards Nanoha's knee and in a fast movement, opened the basket and skillfully pulled an obento out of it.

"Automatic mode rules!" she managed to say with a full mouth.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I love everyone is so concerned about the rings. We're only halfway through of the story and there's still a lot to come. I love reading your reviews, and I answer each of them (my bad if I missed one) so feel free to discuss your theories about what's going on next. Of course the story is already set, but it's really fun to see that everyone has different ideas on what's going on in the story.

Until next chapter!


	9. Lights in the Sky

**Chapter 9. Lights in the Sky**

Nanoha and Fate got out of their car. The place was jam-packed and the excitement you could see in people's faces was infectious. You could see children playing ball, happy couples holding hands, parents strolling with their children, many of which would be carrying balloons of all sizes and colors.

Located at a small bay, Yoshino Recreational Center boasted state-of-the-art installations. An amusement park, a smaller one with water-based attractions, a full equipped gym, a lake and last but not least, an enviable video game lounge with the newest and most advanced simulators. With so many different options it basically covered every possible need for rest and entertainment anyone could hope for.

"Where do you think they are?" Fate asked, without being able to decide where she wanted to go first.

"Something tells me they should be somewhere around here," and holding her hand she led her to the amusement park.

They wandered around the different mechanized thrill machines. Long queues decorated each attraction. You could hear the laughter and the screams from the people riding the games.

"Nanoha, you can't possibly expect us to find them just like that," Fate was starting to complain when, among the crowd, when some recognizable silhouettes appeared.

"Mama!" Vivio shouted excitedly. In her hand she was holding an ice-cream, and she started running towards them as soon as she had seen them.

Fate held her respiration. _Do not fall down, please, please._

Nanoha kneeled down to receive her and Vivio threw herself into her mother's arms. The ice-cream remained intact.

"Ohaio, Vivio," Nanoha greeted her with a melodious voice.

"I missed you Nanoha-mama, but I have been having a lot of fun too."

Vivio let go of Nanoha's hands and extended her arms towards Fate, an unequivocal sign of what she wanted. Fate lifted her up, and not only that, she placed her on top of her shoulders. Nanoha's gaze was filled with tenderness as she watched her two loves, pleased.

"Fate-mama, would you take me to the rides?" she asked smiling.

"Of course, which one do you want Vivio?"

They greeted Signum and Vita, who were the ones that were with Vivio when they found her, and started walking around.

"Hayate and Shamal are enjoying a relaxing massage," Signum informed them.

"Believe it or not, we had to take turns to take care of Vivio. She is restless." Vita added.

The statement made Nanoha laugh. "I'll be sure to make it up to you guys!"

Fate obediently followed Vivio's indications. The merry-go-round, the rollercoaster, the bumper cars, Vivio wanted to try them all. Waiting in the queue took forever in each attraction but it was worth it. Vivio was going around riding the unicorn she had chosen in the carousel. Nanoha leaned her head in Fate's shoulder and in between the splashes of color moving before them they waved to Vivio every time she passed in front of them. Vivio waved back delighted.

"I think Shamal and Vita are right. She does not give any signs of getting tired at all."

"Nanoha-mama can't endure some hours at the amusement park?" Fate answered teasing Nanoha.

"Ha. Ha. I didn't say that."

They saw all the kids exiting the attraction and they approached her and each one held their daughter's little hands.

"Let's go over there!" Vivio demanded.

Nanoha and Fate laughed and after going some other attractions Vivio wanted, they suggested her to go find the rest of the girls. Vivio accepted so they went to the lake where they had agreed to meet.

Soft, well–taken care of grass surrounded the lake and scattered all over the area were lots of tents, where you could see people playing games, others were dancing, and the majority were just enjoying the sun.

Vivio, sitting in Fate's shoulders tried to find their friends among the crowd, pretending to be a ship's captain.

"Over there!" Vivio pointed out authoritatively.

"Yes Sir!" Fate answered imitating Bardiche's voice.

They found Signum and Hayate comfortably lying down on a couple of beach loungers. They were weaing some quite provocative swimsuits. Shamal was setting the table where they would eat.

"Did you give up so soon?" Vita asked them half-joking.

"We thought you guys missed us, besides we wanted to swim before we eat."

"Swim? Nobody told me we were going to swim!" Fate exclaimed in dismay.

"Such a slow girl!" Vita laughed. "Some things never change, right Fate?"

Vita had developed an unprecedented taste to pick on Fate. Since the blonde beauty could sometimes be so clueless of the world around her, Vita just couldn't refrain from teasing her at ever opportunity.

"Don't worry Fate-chan. I have yours right here." Nanoha came into her lover's rescue.

Inside the tent there were some screens carefully placed so they could use it as a dressing room. Fate showed off a really small electric-blue bikini that barely managed to cover the essentials. Nanoha's bikini wasn't that far behind Fate's. It was a nice combination in different shades of orange that looked really good with her hair.

"What do you say to some beach-volleyball?" Signum suggested when she saw Nanoha and Fate in their swimming suits.

They both agreed and started playing. Vivio pretended to be a cheerleader for both teams. The first game was played between Hayate and Nanoha against Fate and Signum. A small crowd started to gather around them. Four gorgeous women with enviable bodies in petite bathing suits, playing volleyball was not a show that could be missed. More than one slightly frowned when the little girl with heterochromatic eyes referred to more than one 'Mama', but after a while no one seemed to care.

Vivio was no longer the only one cheering for each couple. Coming from the crowd you could hear all kinds of cheers to their favorite couple, but you could also hear marriage proposals to the blonde, offers to become the slave of the pinkhaired. Vita and Shamal were laughing so hard they were almost in tears.

With an amazing move, the first game went to Fate and Signum's duo.

The next game was to be played between Vita and Shamal against Nanoha and Hayate. Vivio, however, had different plans. It didn't take much of her natural charisma to persuade the girls to go swimming. To the four girls that had just played the idea couldn't get any better than that. The sunlight was hitting with all its power and it was starting to feel suffocating. The idea also seemed as a good way to escape their new legion of fans. They could not help laughing at the obvious disappointment of the people because the show had stopped.

… … … … … … … …

The water was just delicious. Fate greatly enjoyed swimming, the feeling of the strength with which the water pushed her back with every stroke was something she couldn't get tired of.

"I'll be right back", she told Nanoha, who was helping Vivio swim with her swimming floats. Less than a second later, they felt the splashes in their faces caused by Fate's powerful water kicks as she torpedoed to the other side of the lake.

Shamal and Vita looked at each other with a challenging look and they hurried towards her, splashing even more the ones that stayed to watch the race that had just started.

"Fate-chan is water-goddess", Nanoha told Fate.

"You could say the same about Shamal, look, she already caught up with Fate," Signum pointed out.

She was right, despite the unintentional headstart Fate had, Shamal had quickly reduced the distance between them.

"They made it to the other side!" Hayate exclaimed. "Shamal and Fate are almost neck to neck!"

Fate focused on each stroke she gave. She was not sure why she was in a race, but she definitely was not going to lose. She would have never guessed Shamal was that good in the water. She was getting close now, she could clearly see Vivio's pink swimming floats. Another 8 strokesand she'll get there. Seven, six, five… Shamal was keeping up with. Suddenly a crimson flash overtook them.

"Vita-chan, that was amazing!" Nanoha exclaimed really surprised.

Fate and Shamal tried to even their breathing, the effort tired them; on the other hand Vita didn't look tired at all.

"Very well done ladies," Signum concurred.

… … … … … … … …

Since Shamal was playing around with Vivio, Nanoha swam to where Fate was peacefully floating in the water.

"I've never been able to do that, and you make it look so easy."

Fate pushed her feet down to level with Nanoha.

"That's because it's really easy," she told hear putting one hand in Nanoha's back. "Push yourself up a bit and get horizontal in the water. Just like Vivio uses her swimming floats, you have yours in your chest."

"Fate-chan, respect me!" Nanoha exclaimed blushing.

"Huh?" Fate didn't understand Nanoha's reaction. "Breathe deeply and let your lungs fill with air."

"Ah," Nanoha understood what Fate had meant.

"Ahh!", now Fate blushed, understanding what Nanoha had understood at first.

Nanoha giggled and decided to give it a try. She felt sure enough to do it, especially with the comfort Fate's hand gave her. She pushed up. Fate led her other hand under Nanoha's calves. Nanoha started sinking and some water went into her ears. She quickly stood up again.

"I can't," she said frustrated.

"Yes you can. Try it again and don't forget to breathe. Watch me." Fate showed her again how to do it. "Breathe and you'll stay on float, after that you just have to sync your breathing with the coming and going of the water."

Fate stood up again and put her hand in Nanoha's back.

"Come on, try it again. If you do it, I'll have a prize for you," she said beaming at her.

Nanoha closed her eyes for a second and inhaled. She knew she could do it. She concentrated, opened her eyes and pushed her body up again. She was floating, she actually did it.

"See! I knew you could do it," Fate said and started floating too. She placed the palm of her hand beneath Nanoha's and intertwined her fingers with hers. The both looked up to the bright blue sky that opened before them.

"This is very relaxing Fate-chan."

"You are a quick learner Instructor Takamachi," Fate giggled.

"So do I get a prize?" she asked with a slightly childish tone.

Fate stood up again and Nanoha mirrored her movement. Fate closed the distance between her and the chestnut haired girl, and taking her face between her hands she sweetly placed a kiss in her left cheek. Taking her time she delicately moved to the other cheek and kissed her again. She tried returning to the first cheek but halfway she couldn't avoid resting her lips in Nanoha's. She kissed her long and tenderly.

Resembling a dolphin, Hayate dived in towards the couple and when she got close enough, she generated a very small camp of energy with her right hand, which was used to create a small wave that crashed precisely on top of the heads of the two lovebirds.

"Do not eat in front of the homeless!" Hayate shouted at them and hurried back to safety.

"HA-YA-TE!" Nanoha shouted before propelling after her.

… … … … … … … …

They all enjoyed the rest of the evening. All the girls ate together, and due to popular demand, they played another volleyball game. Vivio wanted a second round of some attractions so they returned to the amusement park.

In the arcade lounge, Fate tried her luck in an Old West themed shooting simulator. If she hit 15 shots she would win a prize. She knew exactly what she wanted. As soon as they had entered the lounge, Vivio had fallen in love with a gigantic panda bear. Fate took the laser rifle in her hands. One by one she successfully sharpshot the targets. She held her breath as she observed the last target. It was the farthest one and could barely see it blink. She closed one of her eyes, focusing in her target trying to keep the pace of the blinking target. Her arm started trembling due to the tension. She inhaled deeply and shot. The scoreboard flashed 200 points. The prize was hers.

Vivio was jumping up and down for joy when the boy behind the counter asked her what prize she wanted to choose. Only the gods know how Fate was able to get out of the place with Vivio in one arm and the over-sized panda in the other.

"Nanoha, meet your new son", Fate joked, distracting Nanoha who was playing in a dance simulator with Vita.

Nanoha turned around bemused and couldn't hold back the laughter at the comical scene in front of her.

… … … … … … … …

"It's getting late, shouldn't we be getting back already?" Nanoha told Fate.

"Just wait a little longer, there's one more thing I'd like to do. Let's go to the ferris wheel."

"Isn't it closed already?"

"Let's just say I got a special favor. Come on."

The ferris wheel was spectacular. Rising more than 200 feet over the ground it held numerous passenger cars that could hold up to 5 people each who could freely walk around the capsule. They approached the attraction and the operator ushered them in.

"Let's go Vivio", Nanoha told her.

"I'd like to go with Signum, if that's ok with you, Nanoha-mama."

Nanoha agreed somewhat puzzled. Shamal, Signum and Vivio entered the first passenger car. Of course, with Vivio was included the panda bear. Hayate and Vita entered the next one. Finally, Nanoha and Fate boarded the last one.

"I don't get it. The games are all closed now," she said the moment she started feeling the rumble of the giant metallic monster.

Fate winked at the operator and holding Nanoha's hand between her, and smiled to her.

"Just wait and see."

Nanohe smiled back.

Very slowly they started going up. The view they were starting to have was breathtaking. The true moment of twilight, to one side of the horizon you could see the sun setting, hiding between the mountains and to the other, darkness was taking over the last bits of light.

The moment they reached the highest point of the wheel, the movement stopped.

"What…," Nanoha was starting to say when Fate softly placed her index finger over Nanoha's lips and with her other hand pointed towards the lake.

A shower of fireworks began to explode before their eyes. Hundreds of small twinkling lights were bursting one after another. From their position they could hear the expressions of amazement from everyone who was watching from the camp by the lake.

Green, red, blue, yellow, and purple pixelated explosions illuminated the dark sky. Hundreds of small sparkles poured down and were immediately replaced by new chains of colorful explosions.

Fate stood behind Nanoha and hugged her tightly against her, crossing her arms above Nanoha's chest and in silence they both admired the multicolored show.

They both turned to see what was going on in the other cars. They could see Vivio resting in Signum's arms and the glow in her eyes was beyond compare.

"I can't believe you planned all these, Fate-chan!"

"I'll be damned Nanoha! I can't believe Vita has already convinced you I'm a lost cause," Fate laughed.

"Etto…"

"The truth is everything was Vivio's idea. She read in a sign about the show with fireworks, and when you were chasing Hayate in the lake, Vivio told me about her plan. The tricky thing was to activate the wheel out of operation hours, but here we are."

"How did you manage to do that?"

"I'm not telling."

"Tell me!"

"State secrets privilege."

Nanoha turned around and started tickling Fate and Fate only hugged her tighter, pulling her even closer to her.

"Behave yourself, Nanoha!"

Fate was laughing out loud, really loud. Nanoha had never heard her laughing like that, so freely, so happy. She loved that sound. She loved those, once sad beautiful eyes, now turned into serene and happy, still beautiful eyes. She loved her selfless soul and her noble heart. Her hands quickly linked behind Fate's back and turned her face towards hers and glancing at her lovingly, she rose in her toes just enough to meet her lips.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I want to give a special _thank-you_ my loyal group of reviewers. Yes you, the one that has reviewed almost every chapter! I'm starting to get a little sad that once I finish the translation my fanfic would officially come to an end, but the fic must go on. See you on Chapter 10 (Good Lord I struggled a lot with that chapter! I hope the translation is not as difficult hahaha)


	10. Operation Pandemonium

**Chapter 10. Operation Pandemonium**

Hayate knew that last-minute reunions were never a good sign. She walked faster towards the main conference room. After ID'ing to one of the guards, they showed her in. The meeting was being conducted by Carim Gracia, and at her right side sat Chrono Harlaown. Other high ranked military officials were attending the meeting and Hayate knew all of them.

Carim rose from her seat and addressed the attendees.

"I'd like to thank all of you for attending on such short notice. As you know, several insurrection outbreaks have broken in a planetary system lead by intelligent androids with magical powers."

The lights dimmed and a series of images were presented in the jumbo screen of the room. The images illustrated Carim's comments as she was detailing the events in question.

Hayate immediately thought about the Scaglietti incident. The technology was incredibly similar.

"We have discussed our options and despite the reluctance of certain members of the cabinet we have decided that the only group that has the experience to effectively deal with such technology is the one you used to lead, Commander Yagami."

Every pair of eyes turned to see Hayate. They were apparently waiting for her to say something, so clearing her throat she prepared to talk.

"The series of events that lead to the capture of Jail Scaglietti and his group of androids were conducted under my direct supervision. However, most of the members of the now extinct, Riot Force 6, are currently under different lines of command now."

"We are aware of that," Leone Phils, one of the Legendary Admirals said. "That's exactly the reason of this meeting."

Midget Crowbel added, "No one dares to accept the imminent threat we are facing if we let those outbreaks grow. We need you to lead again the unit that will be sent to restore order."

"Who would be part of that unit?" Hayate wanted to know.

"Initially, we're considering you and your guardians, and of course Captains Takamachi and Harlaown," Chrono told her.

"Initially?"

"Well it's quite possible I will be participating too," he added.

Carim also told them Sister Schach would also be at their service if required.

"It's all set then," Phils stated.

Everyone nodded, some more enthusiastically than others.

"Commander Yagami you are now officially in charge of Operation Pandemonium."

That said, Carim adjourned the meeting.

… … … … … … … …

Nanoha felt as if she was back in high school when the testing week was on. She enjoyed watching her students, all nervous and yet so eager to prove themselves to her.

Watching from the top of one of the highest buildings in her test zone, Vita and Nanoha prepared the target selection each of her students would have to face. It would be really easy to repeat the same exercises on each new group, but Nanoha preferred to dedicate time to personalize each test. That required lots of additional time, but since she considered each of her students was unique, with their own skills and abilities, the least she could do was to evaluate those skills and abilities accordingly.

She enjoyed the challenge it implied. Most of the time she, herself, would be one of the targets, which helped her to keep improving her techniques, in both defense and attack-

"Don't you think the level-3 multifire robots are just too much for them?" Vita asked her, genuinely concerned.

"When did you become such a softie?"

Vita just grumbled. "I'm NOT! I just think that by the time time they reach that point they are going to be quite worn out."

"Let's hope they learned something about rationing their power," Nanoha told her optimistically. "I think we are ready to start then."

Vita nodded in agreement and went to where their students were impatiently awaiting for the test to begin.

Nanoha, still from the top of the building, could only guess Vita was giving out the instructions to the teams she since saw Vita doing all kinds of gesticulations. In her command screen she adjusted the final configurations for the test and signaled the start.

Just as expected, a few minutes later explosions started roaring all over the place. That was probably one of the bet things of Nanoha's training simulations. They could destroy buildings to the right and left and no one needed to concern about it.

The teams were doing fine so far. With joined efforts they were saving each obstacle Nanoha and Vita had meticulously set. Their techniques might not be as polished but they sure were being effective.

Vita was standing guard near the area where they would face the multifired robots. She'd rather be safe than sorry. Vita's concerns were proven unfounded when, after a few moments of hesitation, the student quickly discovered their weak point and proceeded to destroy them.

"Don't you think it's time we join the fun, Raising Heart?"

"Yes, my master!"

Nanoha started feeling the adrenaline pounding into her. It was always invigorating to feel the power of her magic flowing as she was being stripped off her clothes and then to have them replaced step by step with Barrier Jacket.

Ready fot the action, she overflew the training zone before positioning herself in the place she knew she would face her group.

A powerful blast to her right told her the team wouldn't be taking much long to appear. This group certainly didn't distinguish itself for being subtle. She pointed Raising Heart towards the direction of the sounds as she prepared her spell.

"Axel…"

The wall in front of her crumbled down due to an enormous radiation aimed directly towards her.

"..Shooter!"

The massive ray of energy blasted out of Raising Heart's tip was barely in time to counter what would have been a dead on hit. Surprised by the attack she noticed the vulnerability of her current position, just a second before being face to face with one of her students. She knew it was too late for her when she saw the new power wave that was threatening her.

She raised the palm of her hand and a massive pink shield emerged from it, bouncing off the attack.

"That's it for today", she announced loudly triumphantly. "You all did a great job."

She gathered all the students and noticed some of them looked a little confused. A hand raised up to ask a question.

"Yes, Maki?"

"Uhmm, Nanoha-san, the exercise was going to end until one of us or yourself first received an impact."

Nanoha smiled widely.

"When I prepare your tests, I like to think I've gotten a good measure of your powers. Having this in mind, I coordinate myself along with Raising Heart a limit of my powers, which will allow us to be in equal circumstances, so to speak. When you appeared behind me, I had to remove that limit in order to stop your attack. Therefore, we can saw you actually managed to attack me."

"And you were able to control your temper," Vita added with a peculiar tone.

Several students exchanged looks. They heard rumors that said that Nanoha-san, with all her composed nature had once knocked unconscious down. Those rumors apparently were not completely unfounded.

"We all learn new things with each lesson, including myself. Vita will give your results tomorrow and will be in charge of the training for the rest of the week. I've been required to assist in a mission for the Bureau. I'm sorry to abandon you for a few days. You are dismissed and I'll see you soon."

They both saw the group scattering and Nanoha talked to Vita.

"You shouldn't keep encouraging the rumors, Vita-chan!"

"Actually, it's not considered rumor if it did happen," Vita laughed.

Nanoha sighed defeated. "I guess you're right. Thanks for taking care of them while I'm on mission."

"No need to thank me. As long as Hayate has your and Fate-san's support, I know you can handle anything."

"Speaking about Hayate, she asked me to see her…"

Raising Heart interrupted, "Meeting started 16 minutes ago, my master."

"What? Oh no, Hayate is going to kill me!"

… … … … … … … …

Fate turned around slowly and saw Nanoha quietly entering the conference room.

" …and thay will be each group's activity."

Still trying not to draw any more attention towards her, she occupied the empty seat beside Fate's.

"_Running a little late, sweetie?", _Fate teased her.

"_Did I miss much?"_

"Now that the general outlook has been set I want to have a 15-minute meeting with each group to review in detail the particularities of each task," said Hayate, ending her presentation.

"_Only all of it. At least you'll be in the team meeting."_

"_Awww."_

The lights of the room went on and as people exited the room, Nanoha went to apologize with Hayate.

"Don't worry Nanoha, I thought you'd be late. Vita told me you had a test running today. Anyways, Fate can fill you in. I'll meet with you two in a while, if that's alright."

Both Fate and Nanoha nodded in agreement.

"I'll leave you two on your own now, there's some things I want to run by Chrono first."

"Let's go to our dorm, I'll tell you all about Hayate's presentation."

They walked through the hallways of the Claudia as Fate related the meeting to Nanoha.

"Oddly enough, we are going to be in the same team, actually we are the team. Each team has already been set and has a specific target, since the raid includes action in several planets at the same time."

Fate continued talking as they arrived to their room.

"We will be out for a few days. Zafira and Arf will be taking turns to take care of Vivio," she told Nanoha as she opened the door to her dorm and let Nanoha in. Fate closed the door behind her and the moment she turned around she found herself in Nanoha's lips.

"Now I can say 'Hi', to you."

"Hey, yourself," Fate answered back continuing to kiss her deeply.

"You know, we should be getting back to meet with Hayate. Our meeting is in 10 minutes."

"I know, but I needed to say 'Hi' to you", Fate answered. "I think I can keep saying 'Hi' for the next…mmm… 8 minutes or so."

… … … … … … … …

"I decided to send you both together because that way I don't have to spend any more resources in your mission. I'm confident that with you two is more than enough.

"You seem much more worried than usual, Hayate-chan."

Hayate sighed.

"We've received direct threats since we decided to take an action on those insurrected planets."

"Should we be worried about it?" Fate asked.

"Chrono is taking care of it. Whatever it is, the top priority is that those threats do not interfere with Operation Pandemonium. You two will be the last group to be sent. Be ready by 0900."

They exchanged their military salute. Their official meeting was over.

The three of them decided to go to the ship's cafeteria to get something to drink.

"I have a break before my next meeting. How about you two entertain me and distract me for a while?"

"Huh?" Fate said as she opened her bottle of water.

"Come on, don't be shy. Tell Hayate all about your smoking hot sex life. You must have one by now, right?"

Fate nearly choked with the water she was drinking at Hayate's direct question.

"Hayate!" Nanoha exclaimed quite flustered. "What kind of question is that?"

"Aww don't be shy. We are all grown ups and have known each other since we were, what, nine? The least I deserve is for you to share with me some exciting details so I can envy you."

"You are insane, Hayate" Fate repressed Hayate, and finished drying the water from her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Aren't you sharing anything with me?," she insisted, pouting.

Nanoha raised one of her eyebrows and locking her eyes with Fate's, led her own index finger to her mouth and bit the tip of it suggestively.

"Fate-chan is just glorious in bed. She knows how to please me. She is sweet and kind and very passionate. The best of it is that she loves me as much as I love her. Happy now?" she turned to Hayate with a defying look.

"Very much. I envy you, I hate you and I love you," Hayate answered quite pleased and chuckled the moment she saw Fate's dumbstruck expression.

"Nanoha!" was the only thing Fate could say, with a tone a little huskier than usual.

"Yeah, I always thought that beneath Fate-san's quiet exterior, she would be a blaze in bed. I guess you do not get left behind, Nanoha?"

Nanoha turned to see Fate, and Hayate turned to see Fate too.

"You've got to be kidding me," she muttered looking at the ceiling in distress.

Neither Hayate nor Nanoha said anything else. They were both waiting for Fate to give an answer.

"Now that I think of it, I don't know why we are here when I could be perfectly jumping in bed with Nanoha." As soon as she said it, Fate stood up and stepped away from the table. "Are you coming with me, Nanoha?"

Nanoha sprang out of her chair and hurried after Fate. "Tomorrow 0900, we'll be there!"

Hayate moved her head delighted and really amused by Fate's reaction. She had cornered her and Fate did not back out. She silently thanked both of them. They had certainly distracted her as she wanted, since the burden of the mission still worried her.

It was time to make the final preparations. She didn't want to mention it because it made her look silly, but an uneasy feeling invaded her, the feeling that something bad would happen.

_Stop being silly, _she scolded herself.

… … … … … … … …

Fate and Nanoha left their room very early next morning, ready to start their mission. They reached Chrono's command center where he was already working.

"Ohaio, Chrono-kun", Nanoha greeted him.

"Ohaio Nanoha, Fate. Everything is almost set now."

"Is there something wrong Chrono?" Fate asked, sensing a worried look in her brother's eyes.

"Nothing we can't handle."

"What is it?"

"We've intercepted a ship coming our way. It's very likely set to attack us."

"What?"

"We can't attack it until we're sure it's hostile, but I don't have a good feeling about it. We are ready to deploy our teams to start Operation Pandemonium, and although I can set some resources to defend my ship if necessary, it could cause some trouble.

"We are ready to begin Chrono." It was Hayate who had appeared behind Fate and Nanoha.

"Let's get it done then."

Fate and Nanoha silently waited for their turn. They saw each group being transported to their destination using all of the ship's transportation tubes.

At last, it was their time to be sent. They walked inside the transporting tube and got ready to be sent. The tube filled with light and as the allocating process started, an explosion in one side of the ship shook the spacecraft.

Chrono activated the command of attack and defense. When he turned to the transportation, he saw Fate and Nanoha had already disappeared.

* * *

**Author's Note: **It's funny to see, now that I've read other fanfics, that I'm not the only one who sensed Hayate has this kinky side. I didn't explore it that much but I did have fun showing it a bit. I know this chapter didn't was a juicy as other chapters. When I wrote the original Spanish version I had almost everything set from chapter 11 towards the end ready, and chapter 10 was still like the missing link. It doesn't add much to the story but it wsa the one thaty joined both parts of the story. I hope I'll get out next chapter soon, because it's really my favorite chapter and the longest one hahaha. It's good, I can promise that :)


	11. The Magic of Love

**Chapter 11. The Magic of Love**

An unexpected attack had damaged the interstellar spaceship the moment Fate and Nanoha were being transported. The attack damaged the central systems and they were sent to an undetermined location.

_This place doesn't look hostile at all_, Fate thought to herself.

"Nanoha?"

"I'm right here. What happened?"

"I'm not sure. I don't have any communication with the base, how about you?"

"I don't have either."

"It's really weird. Do you think they are alright? I felt something like a shock just as the transporter was being activated."

"I felt it too. Besides this place doesn't resemble at all the place we were supposed to be sent to," she told her, looking suspiciously one way and another.

"Bardiche?" Fate called to her intelligent device.

The response was immediate.

"Get set!"

Simultaneously, Nanoha tossed up Raising Heart.

"Stand by. Ready!"

They both transformed at the same time. Properly equipped with their devices and jackets they could deal with any situation that could happen.

"Bardiche, where are we?" Fate asked.

"Setting coordinates. Unable to establish coordinates, sir."

A look of concern appeared in her face.

"What are we going to do now? Nanoha asked deeply worried. "We don't know where we are; we don't know what happened to the spaceship, and following the same logic, I don't think they know where we are."

"Bardiche, please try to establish communication with the base at regular intervals."

"Yes, Sir."

"Raising Heart, you and Bardiche coordinate to try those communication attempts in the optimal way so that your energy consumption is minimal. You can do that, right Raising Heart?"

"Of course, my master!"

"Absolutely my lady," Bardiche answered as well.

"Hold on right there. Why would you call her 'my lady' and yet you refer to me as 'sir'?"

"I don't know Sir, do you want me to reprogram my greeting and refer you as 'my lady'?"

"Oh no, leave it like that Bardiche, I don't think I could get used to it. Besides, we are in a potentially dangerous situation right now, I shouldn't be wasting time on silly things. Nanoha."

"I'll take the sky, you get the earth. We'll meet right here in one hour sharp," Nanoha answered understanding Fate's thoughts.

Each of them followed the training protocol. They made a preliminary revision of the area. The main objective was to determine the safe zones and the danger zones. The minutes went buy and they got back to their starting point in the allocated time.

"Have you identified where to establish a camp, Nanoha?" Fate asked her.

"I have two possible locations, and you?"

"One, I guess it should be the same as one of yours since your area search was wider."

"To the south, there's sort of an abandoned camp, just by the lake."

"Yeah, that one. What kind of planet is this, anyways? It seems to have evidence of intelligent life, but neither Bardiche nor I, detected anything.

"We have to hurry up, we have no idea how much time we have until sundown. Raising Heart, can you do an estimate of how long is it until the night falls and its duration?"

"Yes, my master. Nightfall is happening in 3 hours and 17 minutes. Total night time is 15 hours and 34 minutes.

"Talk about a long night," Fate couldn't stop smirking a little.

"Fate-chan! You can't possibly be thinking about sex in this moment, we can't let our guard down."

"You didn't think about it? I feel personally offended."

"It's not that, I just think we should be sure to have everything under control."

"We don't have much more to do than wait to be rescued. We don't even have a mission in this lost planet of the universe."

"You're right, let's set our security perimeter and we'll see what happens next."

They went to the abandoned camp. It consisted of six very rustic buildings, which barely consisted of a roof and four poles each.

"They'll have to do. Along with our survival kits, we will be fine, I guess."

"Yes, but for how long Fate-chan? What if they never find us?"

Fate got closer to her and firmly holding her arms told her in an uncommon serious tone, "We have barely been here for a couple of hours. I know they won't stop looking for us and you can't deny we were lucky, the resemblance of this place with the Earth is really amazing. Even if we ran out of our kit's supplies, we might find other means of living."

"I guess you are right, it's too soon to start worrying. Chrono wouldn't leave any inch of the universe unsearched to find her sister."

Fate laughed a little. "Mom certainly wouldn't let him not finding us."

_Vivio_, the shared the same thought at the same time.

"Don't worry. She's fine and we will be back with her very soon." Fate tried to comfort her, as she saw her beautiful face filling with concern. She hugged Nanoha against her.

Feeling the warmth of Fate's arms around her, she started to calm down.

"Do you want to set out camp or do you want to set the security?"

"The security," Fate answered without hesitation. "I'll be right back."

It was really lucky they had brought the survival kits with them. Who know what might have happened otherwise, although there was no point in wondering the 'what ifs'. The survival kit was much more like a small luxury package. It definitely should be renamed, but thanks to her ranks, it was a provision they were entitled to.

Deceptively small, the survival kit included food supplies, in the form of energetic bars and some personal hygiene products. It also includes some disposable gadgets, the ones Fate had already taken with herself, with motion sensors and defensive capabilities so a mage did not have to waste energy setting up defense barriers to protect the area set up for camp.

Last but not least, it included a revolutionary article, a small package that to the naked eye might like a small sachet filled with a gelatinous liquid. The particularity of this item is that, following the activation of a small plaque in its interior, it would grow to a full-sized mattress. That was the reason the proto-bed was considered a small luxury. During the course of a several days mission it would be necessary to sleep in the most uncomfortable positions, depending on the area, directly on the ground, in a tree, whatever was accessible. The chemical reactions of the contents of the sachet would expand and the subatomical nets would intersperse as the liquid adopted a much more dense consistency, making it a very comfortable place to sleep in.

Nanoha finished setting up the place they would be spending the night in. Fate was starting to take longer than necessary. She heard footsteps closing in. Defensively, she pointed Raising Heart towards the sounds.

"All set," she could hear Fate's voice and sighed in relief.

"I'm glad you didn't subscribe to the policy of shooting first and asking later," Fate laughed seeing Nanoha aiming at her.

"I'm sorry, I guess I'm a little jumpy."

"I understand, but I don't you have to, at least not regarding our security. I even think we can let Raising Heart and Bardiche rest. I don't think we need to have our Barrier Jackets activated."

"Ok," Nanoha completely trusted Fate's judgment. Besides they needed to keep their energy and their device's as much as possible, just in case.

"Anything yet, Bardiche?"

"I'm sorry Sir. Communication is not available at this moment."

"We'll keep waiting. I hope they are alright. I'm worried the Claudia might have been damaged."

"I'm also worried about Hayate. She was counting with us for the Operation and she'll have to do without us for the time being", Fate said closing her fist frustrated.

Back in their regular clothes, Nanoha realized the temperature was a little colder than she thought. The reaction of her skin was immediate, and Fate who was sitting in her proto-bed, extended her hand towards her.

"Come here."

Nanoha got closer to Fate and she sat her on her lap. She really liked to be in that position, where she could feel Fate's protective arms around her.

"I love you so much," she told her before placing her lips on top of hers.

Fate answered back kissing her sweetly.

"I have something I would like you to see." Fate wasn't sure if this was the best moment, but she wanted to distract Nanoha's preoccupied mind a little. _After all, what if we never make it out of this planet?_

"What is it?" Nanoha seemed really interested.

"Well it's just something I found that day, you know, in my mission with Signum," Fate answered.

Nanoha pouted her lips.

"I'd rather you remembered that day as the first time we kissed," Nanoha said a little offended. "It's just that…" Nanoha lips trembled a little.

"What is it?"

"Forget it, it's nothing."

Fate blushed.

"Of course I remember it as _that _day, what I was trying to say is that I found them during the mission…" Now she hesitated. She knew she should have reported those rings and she hadn't done it. She hoped Nanoha wouldn't notice those _technical details_.

Nanoha had her mind busy with other things. She had to get that feeling out of her. It was silly, but she still had to say it.

"Do you want to know something, Fate-chan? That kiss was the first for me and I can't help but wish it had been your first too. It's silly I know, because you're with me and I know you're here for me…" Nanoha tried to convey her feelings even if her voice was failing her.

"I ah…" Fate started to say something as she gently played with the chestnut locks of hair. She had vowed to bury that memory as deep in her mind as possible, but things had clearly changed.

"Nanoha, do you remember when you were unconscious? Silly me, I'm not saying you actually remember being unconscious, what I mean…"

… … … … … … … …

For Fate that had been one of the darkest times in her life. Nanoha remained unconscious after an intense attack in which Vita had miraculously found her barely on time.

In the hospital there was an excess of questions and a lack of answers. Doctors went in and out of the ICU; they ran tests and checked dozens of screens showing information and charts which appeared in front of them. They keyed in data and the screens flashed results. The discussed and argued with each other while the impotence and despair were inevitably taking over Fate.

After hours that seemed endless, the army of doctors following Nanoha's case agreed she was out of danger and she could be transferred to a room. She would probably wake up in a few hours, once the sedatives were out of her system.

A large number of friends and colleagues flooded the hospital's corridors. Everyone was deeply concerned about the condition of the Ace of Aces. The hours passed one by one, and despite the medical prognosis, there seemed to be no change at all in Nanoha's condition. The hours painfully turned into days.

"Any news Shamal?" Hayate asked calmly.

"Nothing yet. Her vital signs are strong now but she's still unconscious."

Fate was leaning against a wall, with her arms folded and protected by the shadows, only listened with her eyes locked to the floor.

Hayate walked to her. "You have to get some rest, it won't do anything good if you get sick too."

"I'm not moving from here. You know it. If I'm somewhere else, I'll just be thinking about being here. It's already hard enough being away during the day."

"Testarossa, don't be so hard-headed. Go get some decent sleep. You can't stay every night here. You know you can count with us." Signum stated firmly.

Turning around she walked to step out to one of the balconies.

"Let me know when it's my turn to go in." It almost seemed like an order.

… … … … … … … …

Nanoha was confused. _Had Fate-chan spent every night with her?_ She thought that among Hayate and the others they had taken turns to take care of her.

"I made them swear they would never tell," Fate confessed, almost as if she were reading Nanoha's thoughts. "Every one of them would spend part of the day or the evening with you, but I would spend the nights in the visitor's chair of your room. I don't know how they put up with me, I had a very nasty undeserved attitude towards them."

… … … … … … … …

More days passed one after the other and Nanoha's condition remained unchanged. The external wounds were completely healed, and at first glance it seemed as if she were only sleeping peacefully. A sleep that had already lasted one too many days.

From the corridor outside her room, her friends just watched her.

"She looks so serene," Hayate commented.

"Yes, she looks like a princess from a fairy tale, waiting for her shining knight in armor to come wake her up with a kiss of pure love," Shamal sighed dreamily.

"Cut it out Shamal, this is serious," Signum seemed quite upset.

"I'm sorry, it's just that she looks so lovely, I couldn't avoid picturing her like that. I guess the problem is we do not have the shining knight in armor in question."

"If I had to guess, I'd say we do have the shining knight in armor," Hayate played along with Shamal.

"I can't think of any worthy candidate," Vita stated very matter-of-factly.

"But it's so obvious!" Hayate laughed.

"Yuuno? Chrono?" Shamal suggested not sounding very convinced.

"How blind can you all be? Expand you minds! Fate-san! She's obviously Nanoha's shining knight in armor!" Hayate almost exploded at them.

None of them noticed that Fate was unintentionally eavesdropping on their conversation from the solitude of the adjoining corridor. She stepped out of the hospital, towards the parking lot. She needed to get fresh air. From the last floor of the hospital's parking lot she looked at the skyline of the city. Thousands of scintillating infinitesimal lights illuminated the picture. She sighed heavily. She had done everything in her hands. She had argued with the doctors, she had cried, she had prayed. Despite everything, Nanoha was still there, confined to her bed without any change at all. She looked up to the sky, to that endless firmament sparkling with stars, the one she shared with her when they flew together. Clenching her fists she muttered between her teeth, "You've got to wake up." She felt the tears invading her eyes and with an uncanny strength, she managed to keep them there.

Fate returned to the room at the hospital. Hayate was sitting in the visitor's chair. She had changed the water of the flowers and was disinterestedly flipping through a magazine. She heard Fate's footsteps, rose up and greeted her.

"You look terrible," was all she said.

Fate said something that sounded like a half growl.

Hayate put her hand in Fate's shoulder. "Let me know if you need anything, anytime."

Fate's eyes softened a bit.

Hayate stepped out of the room and Hayate stood in the middle of it. She could feel a heavy silence over her. She fixed her eyes in a very still, closed-eyed Nanoha. Fate took the two steps that separated her from the bed and kneeled beside her. She felt that the pain cutting through her heart was impossible to bear anymore. She took Nanoha's hands between hers and spoke to her.

"Please come back, we all miss you. I miss you more than anyone else…"

It was useless, Nanoha wouldn't wake up. She wasn't even sure she ever would wake up again. Tears threatened again and she tried as hard as she could to keep them in place.

All the power she had, all the magic she could gather… I_s it only good for destruction?_ She thought, furious with herself. Her power was useless in this situation. She was desperate enough, so she wished for magic but one of a different nature, the one that would bring Nanoha back to her.

Hayate's words echoed in her mind.

_It's ridiculous_, she though immediately.

_What if it could actually work?_ A second voice in her mind insisted.

Fate felt her mind was about to break loose. Now she was hearing voiced in her mind, each telling her what to do. The worst thing was that the voices did not agree and the feeling of despair was starting to crush her chest. It was beyond reasoning that such thing could work, and that was not even considering the disrespect of doing _that_ with Nanoha being unaware of it… _on top of it, she would feel like a pervert._

_What if actually worked?_

Fate looked at her for a long while. She knew she felt lots of things for her, things she hadn't even dared to explore. They were friends, and yet she knew she meant so much more to her. This could probably be the only chance she would ever have. Slowly, she placed herself beside her and gently brushed Nanoha's cheek with the tip of her fingers.

"Please wake up… please, don't make me do this," she whispered almost in pain.

She waited for an answer as she kept caressing her.

Nothing.

"You are the strongest person I have ever known. I know you are in there, somewhere."

Nothing.

"Please come back."

Fate took a deep breath and got even closer to her. With as much delicacy as she could, treating her as she was the most fragile thing to have ever existed she placed both her hands at the sides of Nanoha's face. Like gunpowder on fire she felt the combustion in her cheeks. Without being able to resist anymore she gave in and covered Nanoha's lips with hers. A single tear found its way out and down.

Nothing.

She managed to place herself lying beside her and that night she spent it with her in the same hospital bed.

… … … … … … … …

"When I woke up you were lying beside me. It's the first thing I remember." Nanoha's eyes were glittering with all the tears her eyes were holding.

"You woke up the next morning."

"So you could say it actually worked, then? Are you my shining knight in armor, Fate-chan?" Nanoha asked with her eyes now filled with deep emotion.

"Don't be silly", she told her and hugged her tightly against her.

"You know something? I obviously don't remember anything of those days. It's like there's a big black hole in my mind. I can only remember the darkness, and … your voice, leading me out of there. Thanks to you I found my way out of the darkness."

Fate swallowed hard, the emotion of letting that memory out had closed her throat completely.

"Every moment I say you in that bed, I felt like a part of me died."

"I am so sorry Fate-chan, I knew you had suffered, but I never imagined all you went through."

"You have no way of knowing," Fate answered with an uneven sigh. She hugged her even tighter. "Don't ever do that to me again. I will not be able to resist it again."

Nanoha nodded and to seal her promise she kissed her deep and long. Somewhere along the kiss she could feel Fate relaxing her tense body.

"So, what did you find?" Nanoha said returning to their original conversation.

Fate dug into one of her pockets and showed her one of the rings.

The exclamation of joy Nanoha emitted is beyond words.

"Is it for me?" Nanoha asked deeply touched.

Fate knew it was, she had known since the moment that, in an impulse, she decided to take them with her.

"Of course it is, that is if you want it. I actually found the pair as well, look."

"They are very beautiful. How did you get them?"

Fate told her with as much detail as she could, even the results of Yuuno's investigations, or, truth to be told, Arf's ultra-condensed version of it, since she had not checked Yuuno's data disc yet.

"They have an enormous intrinsic value, besides the magic they might have, they have the hopes and the faith their previous owners bestowed on them. The symbol of belonging to a family and the desire to fulfill their dream with a son."

Fate reflected on the words Nanoha had just said and it finally clicked in for her. That thing that she kept wondering about, what "a family" meant, every time she saw Nanoha's and Vivio's portrait in her office.

"Nanoha, you are right as always. This ring is for you, if you wish to accept it. As you say, it has great value and the least we could do is honor it properly."

"F-Fate-chan." Nanoha mumbled. Her heart was beating so fast and so hard she thought it would storm out of her chest any minute now.

"Nanoha, if you want to take me, I would like for us to be a family. Officially. Formally. I want Vivio to have my last name too. I want to share your last name and for you to have mine."

Nanoha took between her fingers one of the rings. She locked her eyes with Fate's.

"Nothing would make me happier than to share your last name," Nanoha said as she slid one of the rings in one of the fingers of Fate's left hand.

Fate mirrored her movements. "Nanoha Takamachi-Harlaown, I like the sound of it."

"Do you like it better than Harlaown-Takamachi?"

"The combination you prefer as long as the three of us share the same." Fate answered as she pulled her close. She had to kiss her now.

Nanoha pushed her back and placed on top of her as their kisses started to get more intense. Nanoha started unbuttoning Fate's shirt, and kissed every inch of skin that appeared before her. After she was satisfied she returned to kiss her mouth.

Nanoha felt the electricity travelling through her and the wetness Fate's kisses in her most sensitive spots produced in her.

As Fate kept kissing her, one of Nanoha's hands found its way down to Fate's belly, and even lower. Fate managed to take off Nanoha's shirt and captured the sensitive tip of her breast with her mouth. The arousal grew bigger between them, escalating with each breath. Fate teased with her tongue the sensitive nipple and when it was erect enough she started to suckle on it as if her own life depended on it. Nanoha moaned in pleasure while continuing her exploration towards her lover's intimacy. She found her wet and ready. With soft caresses she increased the blonde's pleasure. Fate replaced her mouth for her fingers and searched again for Nanoha's mouth. With her other hand she focused in removing the last piece clothing that stood between them.

Waves of pleasure started flowing through her, each one bigger than the last one. She wanted Nanoha to share the same feeling so she licked her fingers and looked for the spot of pleasure. She felt the heat throbbing inside her and rhythmically the pleasure of both increased. Nanoha's moans turned her on even more. At times she lost track on what she wanted to kiss; her neck, her breasts, her mouth, each tasting so sweetly, so Nanoha. Fate started feeling the intense pleasure building up as Nanoha fingered her. She arched her back trying to absorb each of the sensations that emanated from Nanoha's touch. She slid down and delicately opened Fate's legs. She voraciously thrusted her tongue inside her. Fate could feel the vibrations that grew inside her as her orgasm was taking over her.

"Keep going, please," she begged.

There was no power in this world that would make Nanoha stop from guiding Fate to the climax.

Fate claimed her back and kissed her full in the mouth, excited of tasting herself in Nanoha's tongue.

As the ecstasy swept over them neither noticed Fate's ring glowing and without being able to control it she started pulsing her own magic. Nanoha noticed the small yellow glow engulfing them both. Fate was opening up to her. It was the most vulnerable state for anyone and it was potentially dangerous to expose herself like that. Nanoha stood still and Fate became aware of what was going on.

"Na-Na-no-ha," Fate muttered breathless.

She opened her eyes and saw her own yellow glow.

She closed her eyes clenching her fists. She needed to close back and to Nanoha it became obvious it was being painful.

"Wait Fate-chan, don't."

Fate closed her eyes and watched Nanoha close hers. A pink phosphorescence started flowing from her.

"Share it with me," she told her as she got close again to kiss Fate again.

Fate gave in and they continued their love making, as the pulsations they irradiated were bigger and bigger. They were so attuned to each other they did not notice their Linker Cores getting out of their bodies.

The outburst of energy was increased to levels that if they were being measured would have been out of scale. As they were being subjected to their final orgasm, both their Linker Cores momentarily merged into one. The reaction of energy caused was brutal. The both fell exhausted and completely burned out totally oblivious to the extracorporeal experience of their magical cores.

… … … … … … … …

At the same time in another part of the universe Chrono was trying by all means possible to ascertain the whereabouts of Fate and Nanoha. The impact his ship had received had not only thrown them off-course. Almost all the personnel had been assigned to the reparations, so it was entirely up to him to find his sister.

"Sir, we have detected an unprecedented blast of energy, almost like a time-space rupture."

_This can't be happening right now._

"Do you have its location?"

"We're trying to triangulate to obtain the images. Although it is weird, the energy didn't actually cause a rupture, it was only due to its magnitude that we detected it."

"Let me know as soon as you have any visual feedback. I want to be the first to see it." His gut told him that this could very well be about Fate and Nanoha. He hope they would be all right.

"Roger that."

… … … … … … … …

Fate was lying down wide awake. She could only hear the sounds of the night and Nanoha's breathing.

_What had that been?_ She thought to herself. Of her previous experiences with Nanoha, nothing came even close to what just had happened. The only thing she knew right now is that she need to sleep and rest a little. Nanoha slept wrapped up with her. She closed her eyes and decided to follow her in her dreams.

… … … … … … … …

"Sir, we are about to get the first images in a couple of minutes. It has been a little complicated and the quality of the images will not be good enough. We are unable to provide live feedback, but the images should not be very much outdated.

"Send them directly to my screen please."

Chrono activated the program and a screen lighted up in front of him. The sergeant was right, the quality of the image was very poor, the fact that it seemed to be at night didn't help at all. He tried closing up a little bit. What were his eyes seeing? He squinted and scratched his head. That was… that was the shape of someone's naked back… and Fate's unmistakable blonde hair. The naked back was none other's than Nanoha's. _They sure are having a good time_, he thought and immediately felt deeply embarrassed.

He closed the screen and manually input the commands to stop the visual feedback.

"Sergeant! Activate the tracking mode for the intelligent devices Bardiche Assault and Raising Heart using the source coordinates of the images you have just broadcasted. Establish contact directly with them and schedule their return and their owners to the base, right now!"

"Roger!"

"What's the estimated time to bring them back?"

The sergeant quickly ran some calculations in his computer.

"Priority of the execution?"

"How are we doing with Claudia's repairs?"

"The situation is under control"

"Level 1 priority then."

… … … … … … … …

"Sir, communication channel is open," Bardiche's voice took them by surprise.

Fate woke up and jumped out of bed.

"Nanoha, did you hear that?"

"Yes, that was faster than I expected."

"Sir, a temporary transportation port will be set up in 15 minutes and counting."

"Wow, there's no time to waste," she said as she started to pack her equipment.

They only needed a few minutes to get ready and they stepped out of their refuge. The sky still remained dark since a few hours still had to go until sunrise.

"It's still amazes me how can there be so many worlds, so many spaces where life finds it way. Civilizations that rise up and fall down. Planets that are never found or ar left completely forgotten," Nanoha thought out loud looking at the sky.

Fate walked t her and stood right by her side.

"I agree. I am so glad to have coincided at the same time and space as you," and saying that she linked her fingers with hers.

"Fate-chan! I would have never guessed you were such a romantic soul."

A light shade of pink appeared on her cheeks. "It's all your fault."

In front of them a cylinder of light seemed to descend from the top of the sky's vault and stopping right at their feet.

"It's time to go home."

"Are we ready Raising Heart?"

"Ready when you are, my master."

"Bardiche?"

"Yes, Sir!"

They both glanced back to the place they have spent the night in.

"I don't want to ever forget the image of this place."

"Neither do I." Fate gave Nanoha's hand a gentle squeeze as they stepped in the cylinder of light.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Well this chapter may not have exactly been what many were hoping for, but I hope you liked it. What can I say, I'm a sucker for romance, after all the category of the fic is Romance/Fantasy! For all of you who were hoping to see action, well it was a different kind of action LOL. I think we all have had lots of action dose in StrikerS, I wanted the day to day fluff xD.

I'm having doubts about the M rating. I've read more explicit stuff in M, maybe I should lower it to T? I really have no idea, and I just thought I'd rather be safe than sorry.

See you all next chapter!


	12. Back Home

**Chapter 12. Back Home**

A few moments later they found themselves in the familiar environment of the Claudia. Chrono stood just in front of the transporter waiting for them.

"Fate, Nanoha. I'm so glad to see you two. We've been searching for you tirelessly."

They both beamed at him. It was good to be back, although it had just been a few hours, the uncertainty of the situation had magnified the feeling of being away, but they were back, safe and sound.

Chrono continued talking.

"Nanoha, Vivio is waiting for you at the cafetería. She's with Shamal. For obvious reasons she's been extremely restless. I think you should go see her."

"Why is Vivio here?" Nanoha asked puzzled. "We were only gone for a few hours."

"You were MIA for more than 3 weeks, Nanoha. This is day 24 since the incident."

Fate and Nanoha's eyes wide opened in disbelief.

"What!" They both yelped. "But we didn't even spend a whole night there!"

"Yes, but in the dimensional space you landed in, time had a very different rhythm. Trust me, the last three weeks were a nightmare. I spent each day searching for you. I had the pressure of my mother, Hayate and the Bureau over me. In that order."

"Three weeks in which Vivio didn't see us or knew what was going on…we need to go see her right now." Fate declared very decided.

"Fate, wait. If that's all right with you I'd like to have a word if you. Would you walk with me please?" Chrono knew that this talk should be with both Fate and Nanoha, but that was beyond anything he could handle. "You'll catch up with Nanoha and Vivio in a while, but there's something I'd like to talk with you about."

"Couldn't that wait?" Fate blurted without thinking. "I'm sorry, of course I'll walk with you."

"Thank you. Nanoha, don't keep Vivio waiting. I only have one more thing to ask before you go. Could you please hand your devices to the Sergeant, please?"

The request surprised them both but they did as requested. Nanoha took off Raising Heart from her neck and Fate handed Bardiche in.

"This way Fate, please."

They walked to one of the recreational areas of the ship. The corridors were adorned with natural vegetation and small benches, a place where the crew could feel somehow at home in the middle of the space.

"How are you Fate?" Chrono asked her. He wasn't sure how to have this conversation with her. He had rehearsed it in his mind, but nevertheless he didn't know or how to say it.

"Happy to be back. Even if I didn't want Nanoha to tell, I was worried, I really was afraid we wouldn't be able to get back.

"I have to say, it was not easy finding you at all."

They stood at the middle of a small bridge. He held her hand as he asked. "Hey sis, is there anything you'd like to talk to me about?"

Fate understood the situation, they were going to talk as siblings, not as military personnel.

"Well, now that you mention it, there is something you and mom should know. Nanoha and I have decided to start a family," she said, immensely proud of saying it out loud.

"Aha," Chrono nodded. "What's new about that?" He asked rather amused.

Fate couldn't help blushing a little.

"Aww Chrono, I mean it."

"I know you mean it. In fact that has to do with what I wanted to talk about with you. We took a long time finding you, actually we could have taken much longer if it hadn't been…well if we hadn't…" Chrono paused and sighed. There was no way of saying it. He could not tell her that he had seen images of both of them au naturel, even if their essentials were fortuitously covered. There was no need to hypothesize on the origin of the surge of energy they had detected.

"Chrono?" Fate asked as Chrono had remained silent halfway a sentence.

"I'm sorry." Chrono blinked, he had been so absorbed in his ideas that he forgot he was in the middle of a conversation with his sister, and he had been the one speaking. "Truth is, with the attack we received, we didn't know where you had been sent. The tracking of your devices didn't work either. We started scanning areas outside our radar looking for you two but you know that considering the multiple dimensions, the possibilities of spaces and universes was almost infinite. Our search could last for a few millennia and it might not be enough time to cover every possibility. We had no starting point so day by day we randomly chose sectors to sweep, and every day we would end empty-handed."

"How did you find us, then?" Fate was really intrigued.

"One of our recognition buoys registered an explosion of energy large enough to cause a time-space rupture, although there was no disruption. We started channeling our resources to gather images from the area in question. Do you have any idea of what we might have detected?"

"No," was Fate's initial answer. "Unless… Oh, for heaven's sake!", she covered her mouth with her hands and felt that her cheeks were about to explode, this time for sure.

Chrono blushed just as hard as Fate continued talking.

"For heaven's sake tell me there's no record.. tell me you didn't see… or anyone saw…" She felt her heart pounding ferociously inside her chest.

"There were a few images, but there was barely any light. I was the only one supervising and I didn't took that long to recognize…you."

Fate darted her gaze to the floor and tried to cover her head with her hands deeply embarrassed.

"I didn't see anything. I swear. By the explosion caused it really seemed a revolution had broken loose and you were killing each other there, though."

Fate laughed guiltily.

"Quite the opposite, my dear brother, I hope you don't want any more details."

"God no, please don't. You two never fail to amaze me." Chrono looked at the hour. "They must be ready by now, let's go to the development lab."

Fate followed him. She was still wondering what was going on with Raising Heart and Bardiche.

"I've authorized a special license for you two. I don't want get into much detail, but it seems that the relationship between you two is very… healthy," Chrono said lacking a better word to describe it, or a word that would embarrass him the least. "Both your devices will have the ability to activate a blocking system of our high-detonation tracking system. As you can imagine, such ability in the wrong hands could be disastrous. Nonetheless since it's for our two S+, my own sister, and practically my other sister too, I've decided to grant you both that power. The override function is activated simultaneously by Bardiche and Raising Heart. That condition was as close as we could get to consider it a fail-safe system, since we guarantee the override function will only be activated by express decision of both of you. I know you will make proper use of it."

"Oh, Chrono!" Fate was just speechless.

"Fate, I've taken a lot of your time, but you must understand I could not have this conversation with both of you at the same time."

"I totally understand it. Thank you very much, little brother. I can't even start thanking you enough," and taking Chrono by surprised she hugged him tightly. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what's on your mind?"

"I just want to make sure that there will be no complications with the things Nanoha and I decided."

"What exactly have you decided?"

"About becoming a family…"

"Are you two getting married?"

"Ah…" Fate hadn't thought exactly about _that_. _A ceremony and white dresses?_ She would definitely have to know what Nanoha thought about it. "I wanted to know if there were any legal issues I should worry about. We all want to have the same last names, so yeah, to answer your question, yes I want to get married and with that have me adopt Vivio as well

"I see," Chrono said pondering the situation. "I don't see why you should have any problem at all. The process of the civil union is quite simple. Trust me, there's nothing to worry about."

"Thank you my dear brother," Fate couldn't feel happier.

"Don't say anything else. Go and and find your girls, Vivio must be looking very much forward to see you too."

Fate did not need to be told twice. She bolted towards the cafeteria, and almost as if Vivio had sensed her coming in, she turned around to see her.

"Fate-mama!" Vivio shouted and ran towards her and leaped to her arms.

"My little Vivio, will you forgive Fate-mama for making you worry?"

Vivio looked at her with watery eyes. She locked her arms around her neck and broke into tears. Fate pat her head and walked towards the table where Nanoha awaited for them, also sharing watery eyes.

"Can you believe we were gone for more than three weeks?" Fate asked Nanoha as she kept stroking Vivio's hair who was now down to an intermittent soft sobbing.

"No, well, yes. I don't know how we didn't think it was a possibility."

"I guess it was better that way, otherwise we would have been extremely worried…"

"And certain things wouldn't have happened." Nanoha finished Fate's sentence.

"Which reminds me, I have a lot to talk with you about, when… when the bird is in the nest."

"What bird?"

Fate nodded in direction to Vivio who was still holding onto her tightly.

"Ah", Nanoha understood the message.

Shamal approached them.

"I'm so glad to see you girls, you had us really worried."

Shamal noticed the ring in Nanoha's finger, and even though she made no comments about it, she couldn't help looking at Fate's hand and realize she was wearing an identical one.

Fate followed Shamal's gaze and understood what was going on in Shamal's mind. A little ashamed she spoke.

"Uhm, we have some news to give you but we'd rather wait and tell everyone at the same time."

Nanoha nodded, if they were going to announce it, it was easier to tell them altogether and not one by one.

Shamal waved her hands excited.

"I can't wait to hear it. Congratulations to both of you! I'll be going now. Hayate is waiting for me and I promised to tell her every detail about your return. I have to tell her you are perfect, not a single scratch."

"_That's only of you do not count the ones I left in your back" _Nanoha communicated to Fate.

"We're just perfect Shamal, thanks for everything," Fate answered as she tried not to get distracted by Nanoha's comments._"Nanoha, behave youself!"_

"Mama!"

"Hai," they both answered.

"Can we go home now?"

Chrono stood behind them and placing his hands on each of their shoulders, talked to Vivio.

"You have been very brave, my little niece. You go home and get some rest now."

"Arigato Chrono," Nanoha placed her hand over his.

"Your transportation is now set, you can leave as soon as you wish."

"Thank you Chrono," and forgetting about protocol, Fate stood up, hugged him and kissed him on the cheek.

… … … … … … … …

Back home, Nanoha, Vivio and Fate were all three comfortably lying in bed as they talked.

"So, Vivio, how would you like for us two to have the same last name as Fate-mama?" Nanoha sked her sweetly.

"Vivio Har-Harlan", Vivio answered trying to remember Fate's last name.

"Har-la-own", Nanoha helped her.

"Takamachi-Harlaown," Fate corrected Nanoha. "Do you like it?"

A giant smile appeared in Vivio's face.

"Are Nanoha-mama and Fate-mama getting married?"

Nanoha and Fate blushed a little and looked at each other shyly.

"Only if it's ok with you," Nanoha answered her honestly.

"Nanoha-mama makes Fate-mama happy."

_They can read me like an open book, _Fate thought as she sughed and brought Vivio towards her to hug her.

Vivio continued asking questions.

"Does that mean I will be getting a little brother or sister?"

"Ahh…" Fate muttered.

"We'll see about that, for now it will be us three as always, but with brand-new last names."

Vivio smiled at them and as she played with her plushie bunny, her yawns started to get bigger and bigger.

"Vivio? Do you want to go to sleep already?" Fate asked. "Do you want to stay here with us?"

Nanoha reached out to straighten Vivio's hair.

"No, I want to sleep in my room. I'm a big girl."

"_Wow, our daughter is growing up so fast, don't you think so?"_ Nanoha asked Fate.

"_It sure seems so."_

Nanoha took Vivio to her room and as she wished her good night, Fate stayed in bed, watching the ceiling. _Another child, it might be a good idea. Vivio would be an excellent older sister._

"What are you looking at, my love?" Nanoha asked her as she wrapped herself unto Fate's body. "Are you thinking about what Vivio said?"

"Yeah, do you think it would be a bad idea?"

"No, I think we earn enough, so we could even raise a complete sports team if we wanted."

"We could adopt a baby," she answered and was surprised at the maternal instinct that suddenly flooded her.

"Fate-chan, I would really like to have a baby using more traditional methods, of course considering we are both female, that complicates it a little bit."

"I still think it would be too soon, we will have more time to talk about it in the future, for now there's some things that require our attention.

"What is…" and before she could finish her sentence she found herself enjoying Fate's lips.

"Actually I was not referring only to that," and she told her all of the conversation she had had with Chrono.

Nanoha laughed as if she had done one of her high-school pranks.

"So, just to clarify, us making love saved our lives?" she asked with her with a dangerously seductive tone.

"If you put it that way, yes."

A feeling of excitement and fear began to invade her. Nanoha's gaze was so penetrating and very clear, she wanted her right here and right now.

"Do you think it's a good moment to put into practice Bardiche and Raising Heart's new ability?"

That was the last thing she said before claiming possession of Fate's body.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I don't think I could ask for better reviewers than the ones that have kindly expressed their interest in my story (both in the English and Spanish versions) and have gotten into it, trying to figure out what's going on next.

We are down to just two more updates, Chapter 13 and Chapter 14 + the Epilogue (yes those two are published at the same time). Since in Mexico this Monday is a holiday, it will give me more time to work on the translations, so expect these updates real soon.

Thanks again!


	13. Family Reunions

**Chapter 13. Family Reunions**

"Are you sure I look good enough?" Nanoha asked her for the millionth time.

"I do not understand what are you so nervous about, we've had dinner with mom before," Fate answered amused.

Nanoha had spent the last forty minutes coming and going from her wardrobe. Discarded dresses, shirts, bras, skirts of all kinds of colors and styles were scattered all over the floor when the bed couldn't hold any more clothes.

"But this time is different, everything is different!" Nanoha exclaimed in a rush.

Fate was really enjoying the moment. It was not often that she got to see Nanoha out of her usual serenity. She stood behind her and looking at Nanoha's eyes reflection in the mirror placed her hands in her shoulders, and with her fingers she tried to relieve the tension in Nanoha's shoulders.

"You are exaggerating. I love how you look, you look perfect. You are perfect."

Nanoha enjoying the pampering turned her head up to see her.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course," Fate said and lowered to give her a kiss in her hair.

… … … … … … … …

Elegantly dressed, Nanoha and Fate walked hand in hand at the reception hall of the fancy French restaurant. Heavy red curtains adorned the windows and the romantic atmosphere of the place was almost unbeatable. They approached the maitre d ', who looked at them pleased.

"Good evening ladies. Reservation please?"

"Harlaown," Fate said with pride in her voice.

"Of course, follow me please," he answered courteously.

The maitre d' led them to a private section of the restaurant. Important and distinguished personalities of the military were enjoying their dinners. Admiral Lindy's unmistakable hair marked their table.

As son as she saw them, Lindy stood up to greet them.

"My beloved girls," she said as she embraced them both at the same time.

"Mom!" Fate was blushing. "A lot of our superiors are here..."

"So what? I hadn't seen you in a long time, so I'm entitled to hugging you as much as I want."

Nanoha tenderly watched them exchange their friendly argument.

"Let's sit down," she indicated them.

A waiter approached them swiftly to take note of their beverages.

"The usual, Shiru."

Shiru nodded.

"And for the ladies?"

"I'll have some flowers tea," Nanoha requested.

"I'll have the same, please."

Nanoha and Lindy turned to see her in disbelief.

"What? I just had a craving for it…" Fate said blushing, feeling she had to justify herself.

Her reaction made Lindy and Nanoha laugh a little at her. It was so not her style to have that kind of drinks.

"I am so glad to see you two. I was sick worried during the weeks you were missing, and I was very upset I couldn't get to see you the moment you returned."

"Don't worry mom, we understand you have a lot of work to do. In fact, Nanoha and I haven't had that much spare time either. Even though we just felt like being away for a couple of hours, we had to make up for the time 'we were not here'," she said mimicking some imaginary quotation marks with her fingers.

"When you got back, Chrono assured me I had nothing to worry about, so I didn't. Where's little Vivio? I thought you'd bring her along." She sounded a little bit disappointed.

"We thought about bringing her, but she has an early start tomorrow and we didn't want to get her to bed too late."

"Nanoha, you are terribly quiet today. What's new with you? Any love interest we should know about?" she asked nonchalantly.

"I ahh.. I'm doing very well, actually," she answered as she glanced a desperate look at Fate which was clearly sharing the same warmth in her cheeks as the one she was feeling.

"And you Fate? I don't need to tell you I want more grandchildren, and since I don't think Chrono is providing me with more, it's up to you. Our family isn't going to grow any bigger just like that, you know?" she said as Fate's face had a guilty expression all over it.

Oddly enough that was the kind of cue Fate needed to talk about her new relationship with Nanoha.

"Now that you mention it, that's something we are here to talk to you about."

She had caught Lindy's attention immediately, as Shiru placed their drinks in front of each one of them.

"Are you ready to order?" he asked them politely.

"Herbed salmon for me."

"Of course, Admiral." He turned to take Nanoha's order.

"Fate-chan, would you like to share a fondue with me?"

Fate-chan closed both menus and handed them to the waiter, as she spoke to him. "Club Fondue Suisse, s'il vous plait."

Shiri smiled pleased and bowing lightly, he left.

"I can't enough of this place," Lindy seemed pleased. "It's even better when you have wonderful company." Looking at them she sighed. "I can't believe you are all so grown up now, such successful women. It only seems like yesterday when you two would be steadily exchanging video-notes."

Fate blushed, again.

"A lot of things have happened since then."

"How are your parents, Nanoha?"

"Very well, thank you. I talk over the phone with them regularly and I hope we can go see them soon. There are a lot of things I want to talk with them about." She said and couldn't help sighing almost imperceptibly, what was not that imperceptible was the complicity look she exchanged with Fate.

Lindy noticed, but made no comment whatsoever, she only smiled inwardly. For years she had watched her daughter, and the girl that had defied all authority to save her the moment she had needed it the most. It didn't take her too long to see that it was only a matter of time, although they had taken much more than she had thought, before both of them should realize that the bond they shared went beyond a deep friendship. She had been a silent witness of the extraordinary instinct of protection they had towards each other and how deeply they missed each other when they were apart. But above everything else, Nanoha was the only one who could make Fate smile the way she did.

Lindy sensed she was being observed. In fact, two pairs of eyes were staring at her. Their food had magically appeared at the table. She had been so lost in her own thoughts she didn't even notice the moment their food was served.

"This looks delicious, let's eat!" she exclaimed brightly.

Nanoha and Fate looked at each other puzzled, but complied and proceeded to skewer the little bites and dip them in the bubbling cheese.

As they ate, they talked about Vivio and her outstanding progress in school. Fate also commented about the calls she had exchanged with Erio and Caro. The conversations were light and all three of them enjoyed it along their meals. Admiral Lindy couldn't be more proud of her daughter.

"So, you were telling me Fate, there's something you and Nanoha wanted to talk to me about?" she told them as she put aside her empty plate waiting for it to be removed.

"Aha, yes we do."

Fate tried to find the right words for what she had to say.

Nanoha took the initiative and linked her left hand with Fate's.

"What we want to tell you is that… well…we have… ahhh. We're engaged."

_So that's the way it sounds out loud, _Fate thought incredibly happy and proud.

Lindy was speechless.

"Mom?"

Lindy leaned towards them and took their hands between hers and talked to deep directly from her heart.

"Fate. since the moment you entered our lives I never wished for anything else than for you to find the love and happiness you always deserved and got denied. You are such a loving person, and your heart is so much bigger than your chest can hold. I'm so glad you have someone to love and who loves you back the same way. I've never been prouder of you. And of you Nanoha, I've seen you grow up as well and if there's something I was certain about is that no one could make Fate as happy as you did. I'm very honored to receive you into our family, of course, I've always considered you as part of the family, but I love the idea of it becoming official."

Nanoha felt overwhelmed with joy.

"I'm the one who is honored to be part of your family Admiral, to have you receive me and Vivio."

"You see mom, I already made our family bigger!"

… … … … … … … …

"So everything turned out ok, Hayate?"

Nanoha was deeply concerned for not having fulfilled the mission they had been assigned to, even though it hadn't been their fault.

"I obviously can't say it was easy replacing you two, since you're basically irreplaceable, so I had to to get my hands dirty," Hayate laughed. "I also had to use Vita, so that explains why your students got behind schedule. Gomene, Nanoha."

"You don't have anything to apologize for, it's us who apologize for not participating the way we were expected to."

At the Takamachi-Harlown home, the reunion was a big success. The place was full of people. Hayate and Nanoha chatting by the base of the stairs, in the living room. Amy and Lindy watched as Vivio and the twins played videogames in the enormous HD screen.

Some music enlivened the atmosphere, and judging from the chattering, the sounds from the videogames, and the laughter of the children, everyone was having a good time. The reason for the reunion was simple. Fate and Nanoha wanted to announce to their close friends the new path their lives were going to take, and that was definitely on occasion to celebrate.

"You look different, Testarossa."

Signum's unmistakable voice sounded behind Fate's back who was enjoying the pleasant smell of the warm night leaning over the porch's railing.

"What do you mean, Signum?" Fate answered as she kept looking at the sky.

"I don't know, it's as if you had a special glow around you. You look genuinely happy."

Fate turned around now leaning against the railing and watched what was going on inside her house.

Her mom was lively chatting with Hayate and Vita. Nanoha was now in the living room, kneeling by Vivio and the twins. The familiar sense of warmth filled her again, but this time she knew what it meant. This feeling wasn't confusing anymore, she was happy beyond compare.

Shamal, Arf and Zafira had their own converstion going on at the dining room. Yuuno and Chrono semed to be entangled in an argument over a gadget since they had even pulled out their screens each one showing the other things on them. Amy, Shari and Teana walked out of the kitchen, each carrying a cup of tea, as they talked to one another.

"I don't think I could be any more happy than I already am, Signum. I have all I could ever wish for. Mom and Chrono. All of you, my loyal friends. Erio and Caro. We have all gone through so many experiences together, and here we are, all together tonight. We are a huge family." She paused and looked around to where Nanoha and Vivio were. "And Nanoha. Words are not nearly enough to start describing everything I feel for her and all she means to me. With her and Vivio I have my own family. Mine," she said emphasizing that last word.

"I understand you. The sense of family Hayate brought upon us only strengthened the bonds among us. With you, I guess it must be something very similar, somehow."

"That's right."

"Signum, Fate-chan, what are you two loners doing outside?" Nanoha asked with her characteristically cheery voice.

"Just enjoying the fresh air, my love," Fate answered as she held her hand.

Nanoha got closer and leaned her head against her shoulder.

"It all went well, don't you think?" she continued.

"Yes, the first party of the Harlaown-Takamachi family."

"Takamachi-Harlaown," Fate contradicted her.

Signum looked at both of them amused.

"Please don't tell me you still haven't agreed on your last names?"

They both pouted.

Signum continued talking. "It's funny that each one insists on getting the other's name first. Do you want me to flip a coin for you?" Signum joked.

"I'll convince her," Fate stated quite determined. "We still have some weeks to go before we start the paperwork."

"A lot of work?"

"That never ends, Signum" she answered with a smile.

Yuuno saw them talkign out in the porch and decided to join them.

"Yuuno-kun! I really am so glad you had the time to come." Nanoha exclaimed loudly.

"I wouldn't have missed it, Nanoha," he answered back smiling as well. "I had to congratulate you, both of you. I also wanted to know what had been of the rings Fate had found."

Nanoha extended her hand and spread her fingers proudly showing off the ring in her finger.

"They are quite something special."

… … … … … … … …

Fate and Nanoha were in bed now, wrapped in each other. Just a few rays of light that slipped through mitigated the darkness of the night.

"We should go to sleep now, sweetheart. Tomorrow you have to depart to another mission and you should be completely rested."

"I don't want to sleep. If I sleep, the time for me to go the mission will come faster, and I don't want that. Actually, I've been considering soliciting for a reassignment."

"But, Fate-chan, you love your work, and you are great at it!"

"I love you more. I don't enjoy spending so much time away from you, both. There are several work options I could do here, without having to spend so much time out in space."

"Fate-chan, I obviously miss you too when you are not here, but I do not want you to leave things that are important to you as well, because of me. I understand your job."

"You sacrificed yours for Vivio."

"It's different…"

"No it's not. I don't want… I don't want to be like my mother." Fate's expression was of deep concern.

"Do not ever say that. Nothing could be much farther from reality, Fate-chan."

"I feel like I'm losing many things with Vivio. I don't want to fail her, I don't her to think I'm not here for her."

Fate's voice had been reduced to a soft murmur, with small suffocated sobs. Nanoha looked at her almost heart-broken as she turned on the light of the nightstand.

"You are an excellent mother, Fate-chan," Nanoha told her looking directly into her eyes.

"You are just saying that to make me feel better."

"No, I'm saying it because it is true. I am saying it because Vivio has told me so." Nanoha watched as the first tears glittered in Fate's beautiful eyes. "My sweetheart, why are you crying? Whatever you decide to do, you know I will support you, but please don't ever doubt how good you've been to Vivio. Fate-chan, you have been a wonderful mother to Vivio, even before we…" and to finish her sentence she closed the distance between them and kissed her as sweetly as she could.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what got into me. I'm never this sensitive, I guess no matter how many years have passed, talking about Precia will always be painful."

"Don't apologize Fate-chan. Have some rest, tomorrow you will see things differently."

"I'm going to be away for a long while."

"I know, promise me you are going to take care of yourself."

"Always," Fate answered as she snuggled into her.

… … … … … … … …

Teana and Fate were in a desolate planet. The area was extremely hostile wetland where small yet numerous magical entities attacked them non-stop.

"Lightining Rage!" Fate yelled and the stream of light that exploded from Bardiche disintegrated as many entities as it found in its way.

Fate stayed suspended mid-air trying to get a visual on Teana. She saw her, immersed in a battle where she was clearly outnumbered, but seemed to be handling the situation.

Behind her a couple of these beings aimed towards her. A fraction of second before being hit she evaded them, twisted around and smashed them down.

Their opponents were not difficult to defeat, the problem was that they seemed like and endless plague. If they kept attacking them at this pace, they would tire down eventually.

"_Teana, we have to find the origin of this pest and seal it down. This things will keep appearing unless we do something else."_

"_Got it. What's the plan then?"_

"_I need you to cover for me as I try to determine the source. I'm coming to you."_

Fate swooshed her way to Teana. A large number of entities started to tail her. Fate increased her speed. As she got closer to Teana she found her partner aiming directly at her with Cross Mirage. Her eyes locked with Fate's.

"Crossfire Shoot!" Teana yelled.

A dozen of brilliant spheres rushed towards Fate, who continued speeding without altering her route and held her breath. The bullets of light traveled past her without even a scratch and hit dead on the entities behind Fate and caused a chain reaction that blew up Fate's entire escort.

"Teana, that was close," Fate breathed.

"Thanks for trusting me."

"You've earned it." Fate slid a finger in the air and her screen appeared right in front of her. As fast as she could, she keyed in some command sequences.

Teana kept destroying the entities that would appear again and again.

"Come on, come on!" Fate kept typing furiously. Her screen showed data rolling down and images that updated one after the other. "Got it!" She closed her screen and kneeled beside Teana.

"We don't have much time to lose. The source is far away from here."

"Ok, just give me a minute. I think I can try something that will give us some time."

She closed her eyes and started generating copies of her and scattered the around the area.

"It'll be enough to distract them. Well done, your illusions are really flawless."

Making no haste, Fate and Teana went to the place Fate's calculations indicated the source of the origin of the out of control entities. Teana's holograms paid off because so far they had not being bugged by the little pesty things.

They kept going and the landscape started to change dramatically. In front of them rose some spectacular mountains.

"Dammit!" Fate cursed. "This is not going to be easy at all."

From the skies they started making out the winding roads surrounding the mountains. By foot the access would have been nearly impossible. Numerous caves bordered the cliffs.

"Inside that it could be a labyrinth Fate-san."

Fate looked one way and another. She really had no way to choose any path in particular, so she trusted the only thing she could right now, her gut.

"Let's start there," she said pointing at one of the entrances by a steep cliff.

They entered cautiously and as Teana had anticipated, the path divided three-way just beginning.

"We could cover more grounds if we each take a path, but I don't thinks it's a good idea to get separated."

Teana nodded in agreement.

Fate, undecided, evaluated the options for a minute.

"I have an idea…" and that being said she held Bardiche in Sealing Form and placed herself at the entrance of the three passageways. With her index finger she activated again her command screen.

"Fire!" she shouted and three incandescent blazes stormed out each taking a different tunnel and started zigzagging up and down, bouncing from floor to top and from left to right until all sight of them was lost.

In her screen a digitalization of the tunnels created itself. With each bounce, each flare traveled the tunnels and allowed them to be recorded and converted into a digital map. Teana gaped in awe.

Two of the three tunnels ended abruptly. The other one seemed to open into a huge gallery.

They took the way that lead to the gallery. The tunnels narrowed so much that even Fate had to crouch a little as they walked through them. They did not expect the majesty of the cave's enormous gallery that opened before their eyes. Little by little the darkness started to recede. Standing tall, a huge 60-feet column of power welcomed them.

"It's humongous, Fate. We will need an enormous amount of power to seal that thing down"

Fate carefully observed as she decided their next step. Behind the column, more entities started to crawl at them, except this time they were double the size of the ones outside the caves.

"Teana, we have company, would you take care of them?" she asked looking very determined.

"What are you going to do?" Teana asked worried about Fate's tone of voice. "You would not be thinking of taking that thing on your own, would you?"

"I know I can do it, but I need to know you'll have my back and stop the little buggers."

Teana agreed and put in position to defend her superior.

Fate held Bardiche firmly in her hands, closed her eyes and clearing her mind commanded, "Overdrive. Sonic Form."

Bariche's voice acknowledged the command understanding his master's request. "Sonic Drive," and a second later, "Riot Zanber."

The explosion of energy was frugal. She would need to channel almost every ounce of her energy to counter the column that feed the entities that were giving Teana a lot of trouble. She fused her double sword into the massive one, ran towards the base of the column, accumulating her power to the maximum.

"Plasma Zanber Breaker!"

The colossal attack rocked the column but it did not budge. Fate maintained the flow of energy discharging her power as much as she could. The column began to crack. Fate began to feel her arms shaking. It was too early for her to be exhausted that way. Her eyesight started to fail her. With a superhuman effort she launched a final avalanche of power.

The base of the column exploded as Fate plunged into deep darkness.

* * *

**Author's Note: **

Wow, the story is about to get it's 100th review and it's not even complete yet. You guys rock, really, all of you. Lily, darkvalk, Sammie, Asuka, Zona, Kit, Lance, MajorReader, Honulicious, Yukimura, you are all so sweet, you have basically reviewed every chapter! My bad if I missed someone, I appreciate each and every review, I've even exchanged a few PMs derived from the reviews. That's so cool!

I'm really humbled.

So, next update will be the last one. Sad I know. My last month has been totally dedicated to this fanfiction. I never thought writing would be so exciting and so entertaining.

It's been a wonderful experience. So, I leave you all at this cliffhanger so maybe you can tell me in your reviews what you think is going to happen next ;) of course that's assuming you haven't peeked on the Spanish version hahaha.

That's it for now, see you next chapter, _**the final chapter! **_Don't forget it's a_ 2 for 1 combo LOL. _

**Update:** _Thanks ZonaRose for pointing out my mistake en Caro's name!_


	14. Beyond the Magic

**Chapter 14. Beyond the Magic**

Direct sunlight started to fill up her sight. At first it seemed blinding again, but colors started to differentiate and the objects began to take shape. Fate's eyes tried to get used to focusing again. She looked up and noticed the white ceiling above her. If she moved her eyes a little and looked left she could distinguish a window. To the front she saw what should be her own body, beneath the blue sheets. There was no doubt, she was at the hospital.

She tried to swallow and felt her throat terribly sore.

"I am so glad you woke up Fate-san. You have a lot of people worried about you."

Fate recognized Shamal's voice and turned around looking for her. A pair of friendly scarlet eyes smiled at her.

Fate rubbed her face with her hands.

"What…what happened? Teana, is she alright?"

"You scared the life out of her, other than that, she's perfectly well. She's outside, Nanoha is outside as well."

_Nanoha_.

Fate felt the enormous desire to see her.

"The last thing I remember is destroying the column of power inside that gigantic cave, Shamal. I know it required a lot of my energy, but I still don't understand what happened to me."

"Couldn't it be you exceeded your power a little?" Shamal inquired.

"I d-don't think so… I…How long have I been here?" She asked deeply worried.

"Not much, not even a full day. I really thought you would wake up until tomorrow. This is much better of course, it means you are better than I supposed you would be and it's better if you are conscious during the tests I want to run you."

"Tests?"

"Well they are basically routine ones, but I'd rather make sure. How have you been feeling, Fate?" Shamal asked almost motherly.

"Yeah perfectly, without counting this."

"I see."

As they talked, Shamal was taking notes in her computer. In it she could see images that represented Fate's body and showed her vitals.

She used a small device to carefully scan her whole body, up and down.

Fate noticed something was wrong by the way she was looking at her screen. Clearly something was bothering her.

"Is there something wrong?" Fate dared to ask.

"No… etto…there must be a mistake. In the meantime I correct it, I'd like to keep talking with you."

"Sure…" Fate suddenly felt like a small child who had misbehaved and had to come clean.

"So you have slept well and eaten properly?"

"I can honestly say I don't think I have ever slept better before," Fate confessed blushing a little. "I exercise regularly, as always and I've felt very energized. If it had not been for the fact that I'm currently in the bed of a hospital, I could tell you that I had never ever felt better before."

Shamal's expression was getting on her nerves by the minute, and exasperated by uncommunicative Shamal, she jumped out of bed to see with her own eyes what had Shamal like that.

In the screen she could see displayed the monitoring of her Linker Core. She had seen a similar screen when, in the incident of the Book of Darkness, Shamal herself had taken Nanoha's Linker Core for the book to absorb it and she had been in recovery.

This time, however, something was clearly different. There had to be an error in the readings. Instead of showing her Linker Core, _two_ Linker Cores were perfectly distinguishable.

"Wha-What is-that?" Fate asked shivering as an unnatural paleness crossed her face and a strong dizziness ran through her. She fumbled back and had to grip the back of Shamal's chair to avoid her knees failing her.

With sympathetic eyes, Shamal looked at her and helped her regain her balance.

"That's exactly what I'm trying to find out. At first I thought it might be a malfunction of my equipment, but I already ruled out that option." Shamal looked at her slightly distressed. "Fate-san..have you been seeing anyone… I mean, have you been with someone else than Nanoha?"

"How can you say that!" Fate exclaimed gravely offended. "You can't be possibly suggesting.. besides it can't be that… I can not be… I don't… Shamal…" Fate couldn't finish ordering her thoughts. Instinctively she put her hand in the lower part of her abdomen as her face was struck between disbelief and amazement. "I do not pretend to know anything about Biology Shamal, but as limited as my knowledge can be I know it's impossible that... I mean I can't be…" Once again she was unable to finish her phrase.

"Pregnant?" Shamal helped her finish her sentence. "I didn't think it was possible either. I still have to run the tests, but I can't think of another answer. Another thing that strikes me as unusual is that I had never known of a baby showing development of his Linker Core at such an early stage. It is usually developed in the first years of his life."

Fate felt her spinning uncontrollably. _It can't be possible. There has to be some kind of mistake._

"I need to go out and bring my kit to test you. Do you want me to tell Nanoha to keep you company in the meanwhile?"

"NO!" Fate shrieked and then composed her voice again. "I… Shamal, I can't see her without exactly knowing what's going with me. Please don't say anything to her. Tell her I haven't woken up or whatever… I just don't understand anything going on."

Shamal looked at her affectively.

"I understand. Please give me a couple of minutes, I'll be back as soon as possible."

Fate watched as the short-haired blonde stepped out of the room. _There has to be another explanation. Due to the effort, my Linker Core split in two. Yes, that makes more sense. Pregnant? No that's impossible, it is an irrational possibility._

The same questions circled around Fate's mind again and again. She went back to the bed and sat down. The strength in her legs had completely vanished.

The door of her room opened and Shamal entered, carrying a small briefcase in her hands.

"With these tests we'll soon be able to dispel any doubts we might have", she told her as she sat down next to her and held her hand. "Are you ready?"

Fate took a deep breath and nodded.

"Despite all the technological advances, there are old-school methods that are still as effective, so here," she told her and handed her a small plastic cup.

"What do I want this for?" Fate asked bewildered.

"The bathroom is over there Fate-san. Do you feel strong enough to go on your own?"

"Ah... yes, yes, I… I'll be right back."

Shamal waited for Fate to come out. What she was about to witness was almost a miracle, she was sure of that. She was sure Fate was pregnant, and yet she had no way of understanding how it had happened. _Fate and Nanoha managed to conceive a child? Everyone knows they are two of the most powerful mages ever, and yet…well maybe that's what you get when you got them together – together_, she thought amused with her own conclusion. _There are not many records of couples who shared such power… mages of their rank are scarce and to have such bond between them…makes them almost one of a kind._

Halfway her thoughts, she saw Fate step put the bathroom, and with the expression of a frightened child she handed her the cup.

"I'm going to take out some of your blood, Fate-san." She told her softly at the same time she prepared the syringe she had pulled out of her kit. She fastened a stap just a little above her elbow and watched as the vein started to pop out.

A bright and sharp needle pierced the skin of Fate's arm and the barrel rapidly filled with a bright red liquid. Carefully, Shamal pulled out the needle and taking Fate's free hand she placed it so that with a finger she would apply pressure over the injection site.

Fate was breathing in and out heavily.

Shamal opened the container and with extreme care, she deposited the samples in their respective places.

"In a couple of minutes, this will show us whether you are really pregnant or not. In case you are, it will determine quite accurately the number of weeks and the baby's gender."

Fate could not withdraw her eyes from the item in question. Progress bars indicated the time remaining to end the test. A window blinked in the screen.

"Result Ready"

Shamal looked at Fate. Fate nodded and she drew her index finger near the screen. She stopped the tip of her finger a few millimeters before touching the screen. She closed her eyes.

In her mind she clearly remembered Nanoha's voice.

"_Fate-chan, I would really like to have a baby using more traditional methods, of course considering we are both female, that complicates it a little bit."_

At that moment she wished it was possible.

She touched the screen and a faint _beep_ let her know that the result was ready to be read on the screen. She only had to open her eyes and read it.

"Positive" the screen blinked.

A rush of excitement invaded her. Shamal was ecstatic. This was certainly an unprecedented event.

"I need to see Nanoha, now. Right now." Fate got up and ready to get out of the room.

"Wait!" Shamal stopped her. "There are still two results to see and I still do not understand how it could happen Fate. You are pregnant, biologically pregnant. I need to know how you managed to do that without… without the help of a man…"

Fate blinked. Shamal was right. She knew that in the world they lived they could do a lot of things, things that civilizations from the past could only dream about. But the rules of life… those were invariant.

"I…ahhh…" Fate didn't know what to say.

Shamal's scientific instinct kicked in.

"We could start by knowing when the miracle happened."

"The additional data," Fate exclaimed excited.

She went back to the screen and asked for it to show the time.

"17 weeks" Shamal read. "Fate-san I'm going to spare you from a lecture of how you could not have noticed before because this are really extraordinary circumstances, " she told her as she kept keying in more sequences in the screen. "Now I want for the computer to tell me the exact date. Let's go back 17 weeks from today."

Technology was really something impressive. Fate recognized the date that blinked in the screen the second she saw it.

"That was the day we were brought back after the attack to the Claudia."

The pieces of the enigma started to connect in Fate's mind. Shamal was a little more left behind.

"I still don't get it. How could you get pregnant? You are not going to tell me it was the water from that planet."

"No… I… well, Nanoha and I…" Fate didn't find it easy revealing details of her life, least of all the intimate ones. But Shamal was not only a perfectly professional doctor, she was her friend. As she tried to put her ideas together, she felt the heat in her cheeks.

Shamal half-guessed what was going on and tried to help her a little. "Nanoha and you. I get it, but thousands of girl with girl couples have tried it for millennia and, obviously, as much as they wanted, they could never conceive."

"That night was different to the rest we had been together before that. I don't know exactly how to describe it. We made love… but we also shared our magic. In fact that's how they could find us, because of the explosion of energy we caused…"

Fate raised her hand to her mouth, pensively. As she rubbed her fingers against her lips she felt the ring in her finger. She extended her hand and tilting her head to one side, examined it.

"Now that I think of it that was the first day we used the pair of rings I found…For all heaven's sake! They worked!"

If Shamal thought she was beginning to understand, she definitely was back to square one.

"Fate-san, let's start all over again and this time, slow down."

Fate understood everything now. She clearly explained all about the rings and with a little less detail, what had happened the night they had gone missing.

Shamal felt overwhelmed, but Fate's story seemed to make sense, somehow.

"The only thing we are missing to know is the gender of the baby."

"A girl, she's a girl. It couldn't be otherwise." Fate affirmed.

The computer corroborated Fate's affirmation. The rules of life could be bent but not broken.

"I think we can still find out a little more about your baby, Fate-san. I don't know how you circumvented the nature's laws, but I can't help think you might be pregnant of your own clone."

Now Fate felt overwhelmed.

"What can we find out, then?"

"I can measure the wavelength of your baby's Linker Core. Basically it's the fingerprint for all of us who have magic, and just as the DNA lets us determine, for example the paternity based on the common markers between a parent and his child, we can do an equivalent with the Linker Cores."

"So her _finger print _would be the same as mine's?" she asked concerned.

"It's a possibility, of course."

"Can we do a comparison?"

"Of course, give me a second to set the system."

Shamal turned on again the device she had used to scan her. She took the necessary radiations and worked on her screen.

Fate was holding her breath. She was a clone of her own sister, and now she would be mother of her own clone. This was too twisted for her own good.

She was startled to hear a joyful expression from Shamal.

"The print is different Fate! She has patterns that match yours but it's clearly different."

"So, she's not my clone?"

"No, she's an independent being. Physically she would look very much like you, certainly, but that's the way Nature works anyways, right?"

Fate breathed relieved.

Shamal continued talking.

"In fact I think I can cross check with Nanoha's records. Hmmm, let me see. _Takagawa, Takahama, Takahashi, Takaki_, Takamachi, Nanoha, here she is."

Shamal kept working on her screen as Fate looked at her intrigued.

Shamal looked at her almost like a proud teacher observes an advanced student.

"She also shares patterns with Nanoha's print. As unbelievable as it may seem, she is really child of you both! I can't even start thinking the kind of power she will have."

"I think it's time to talk to Nanoha. Could you let her in, please?" She asked her visibly nervous and extremely excited.

Shamal nodded and went of the room, a few seconds later Nanoha rushed in.

"Fate-chan! What are you doing standing up?" It definitely was not the first thing she had planned to tell her, but seeing her out of bed, she could not resist.

"I'm all right. I'm sorry I had you worrying over me," she told her sweetly.

Nanoha noticed a glint in her eyes she had never seen before.

"What happened, Fate-chan?" Nanoha asked her apprehensively. "You exceeded your limit, I know…"

"That's not quite exactly what happened," she told her as she pulled her closer.

Nanoha tried to ask her what had happened, but her words were mitigated by a pair of lips that demanded her attention. She felt Fate's tongue massaging hers ferociously, and her teeth experimenting with her bottom lip. Nanoha plunged her hands in Fate's blonde hair as she also explored her lover's mouth with her tongue. She felt the desire growing in her and the intensity of Fate's body against hers. Fate's hand closed over Nanoha's breast and fondled it over her shirt. Nanoha moaned as she started feeling the ripples of excitement surging from her lower insides. With her other hand, Fate found a way up Nanoha's skirt and up to her panties. She started rubbing her fingers over the underwear and felt the increasing wetness in it.

"F-Fate," Nanoha panted.

The blonde understood the cry, although it was what she was planning to do anyways.

Sliding apart her panties she slide her fingers inside her, and with her thumb rubbed the delicate and swollen spot that was sending her body warm waves of energy.

Rhythmically Nanoha started pushing up and down making Fate get deeper and deepr with each thrust. Nanoha's legs weakened as her orgasm started to consume her. Fate felt it and lifted her up as Nanoha tightened her legs around her.

"F-Fate… I want you too also…"

Fate kissed her to interrupt her.

"I just want you to enjoy. Tell me what do you want me to do."

Nanoha threw her head back in ecstasy. "Just… ah…hmmm, just .. go on, do whatever you want…ahhh…to do."

Singlehanded, she undid the clasp of Nanoha's bra and liberated the glorious breasts out of their captivity. She lifted her shirt up and with her tongue started circling around the excited nipple. She watched them harden and started to suck them desperately. Nanoha felt the swelling in her nipple as Fate continued sucking and the little bites she was giving them increased the pleasure she was feeling in her sex. Fate realized it was unfair to devote her attention to only one of Nanoha's breasts, so she kissed her way to the other nipple.

Fate felt Nanoha's body tensing, as she felt her muscles closing over her fingers with much more force every time. In her breathing and in her moans, Fate could sense the excitation growing in her lover. Nanoha felt the pleasure boiling inside her and clawing into Fate's back, reached her climax.

Nanoha jerked violently in her arms and then fell limply, still holding unto her. Very delicately, Fate slid her fingers out her and walked towards the bed, where she leaned back, still holding Nanoha in her arms.

"Fate-chan, that was amazing," she managed to tell her, her eyes still lost in pleasure.

Fate hugged her tightly. She could feel Nanoha's strong heartbeat in her chest. She gently smoothed Nanoha's clothes as she talked to her.

"I think I was a little rough."

Nanoha looked her extremely satisfied.

"You are welcome to be as rough as you want."

Fate flustered even more than she already was from the excitation and continued, "I have something important to tell you."

"I thought so, I saw it in your eyes. What is it, my love?"

"It'll probably be easier if I show it rather than tell you."

She stretched a little, since she definitely wasn't going to let go Nanoha of her arms, and she managed to turn around the screen Shamal had been using.

"Do you remember the night we… the night that making love saved our lives?" She asked with a smile as big as the moon.

"How could I ever forget that night?" she asked caressing her face.

"That night, we didn't only save our lives," she told her as she turned on the screen of the computer that showed the status of Fate's Linker Core.

Nanoha looked at the screen, unsure of what she was looking at. There were two Linker Cores flashing.

"Fate-chan, what does this…?"

Fate led one of Nanoha's hands and placed her on top of her womb.

Nanoha opened her eyes wide in amazement. She opened her mouth to say something, but she didn't emit a sound. She looked back to the screen. And then back to her own hand over Fate's body.

"How?"

Fate stroked with her fingers, the ring Nanoha was wearing.

Fate was smiling in a way she had never ever seen her before. A mixture of shyness, sprinkled with hope and pride.

Nanoha kissed her, a long, tender, full of meaning kiss.

"Are you sure?"

"Shamal already ran the preliminary tests. It's a girl."

Nanoha felt her eyes filling with tears, such was her happiness that her eyes filled with tears unable to control her emotion. Fate smiled and hugged her as hard as she could.

_Knock, knock._

They both looked at the door as it opened. Shamal went in smiling and looked dearly at them, as she saw Nanoha curled up over Fate.

"It's really enviable how beautiful you two look." She told them as she saw they were both sharing the same radiant smile.

Shamal brought up her chair near them and sat in front of them.

This time, Fate started the conversation.

"Shamal, I need to ask you something. I understand these are extraordinary circumstances but I do not want to be a subject of experimentation, nor do I want to subject my family to a circus. Outside a select group of people, no one, no one can know any details. For practical purposes…"

"We subscribed to the regular methods." Nanoha completed.

Shamal toyed with her pen, pondering the implications. "I totally understand."

"Thank you Shamal, I knew we could count on you."

"That doesn't release you from my orders Fate, about your safety and the baby's."

Fate pouted. In Nanoha's look she saw that she agreed with Shamal.

"Awww, you are not going to let me do anything?" she whined.

Nanoha and Shamal laughed in unison.

… … … … … … … …

The way back home was silent and peaceful. Nanoha drove back home with no rush. Although the two of them did not exchange a single word, the silence wasn't uncomfortable. Both were trying to understand in their own way, what Fate's state meant and occasionally they exchanged glances where they could say everything they had to say but didn't know how to put into words. Every once in a while you could hear one sigh, and the other would look for her hand to give her a gentle 'I'm right here' squeeze.

… … … … … … … …

When the members of a family get together to talk about the important stuff, each family has their own rituals. Some gather around the table, most likely at dinner time, others might get together in the living room, and so on. At the Takamachi-Harlaown home, it was already a tradition that all the important things were discussed in the over-larged bed Fate and Nanoha had been sharing since their days at Riot Force 6.

"How was school today Vivio? Fate asked her daughter lovingly.

"It was great, Fate-mama. We are rehearsing our presentation for the White Day. Don't worry I know that you'll probably won't be able to go, but I'm going to send you a video-note just like the ones you and Nanoha-mama sent to each other when you were away."

Fate and Nanoha smiled deeply moved.

"What would you say if I told you I will be there that day?"

Vivio's eyes lighted with joy.

"Really?"

"Not only that, you are going to have me around much more than before."

"That's right Vivio, and Fate-mama and I have another surprise for you."

* * *

**Author's Note: **

That's it, the end of our journey. Most of you had already guessed where the story was going to, but yet I knew some were a little unsure of it, and of the _who would be the lucky one_. I guess that's writer bonus points for me hehehe

Oh wait, there's more yet!

Enjoy the epilogue :)


	15. Epilogue

**Note just in case:** I've seen the Epilogue is getting more hits/visitors than Chapter 14. Since I uploaded both at pretty much the same time, maybe some of you are getting here directly from the url in the last mail instead of going first to Chapter 14.

Don't forget to read Chapter 14 and then you can come back here! xD

* * *

**Epilogue**

For Nanoha this had to be the first time that being in a hospital was a reason to be more than joyful. The day they had counted down for the last months had finally arrived.

Fate had taken surprisingly well the changes in her lifestyle. As she got used to the changes in her body, she adapted accordingly, and as she had anticipated, applied for a temporary desk job in the Central Offices of the TSAB in Midchilda; that way she was able to sleep every night at her house. During those months all and every field activity was out of question. All of that was a huge change in her life, but she never gave a second thought of it. Ironically, now she spent more time at home than Nanoha.

At the hospital's waiting room, each and everyone one of their friends awaited anxiously. Nanoha walked in holding Vivio's hand and went to greet them.

"Vivo, Nanoha-mama was to go take care of Fate-mama and make sure your little sister gets here safely. Is that ok?"

"When is she coming, Nanoha-mama? I want to play with her!"

Nanoha looked at her daughter lovingly as she stroked her hair. Vivio's expression was almost the same as the one she had when she wanted a new toy.

"You'll get to meet her in a little while. For now I need you to stay with Vita. Can you do that for me?"

"Okay!" she agreed and went to sit next to Vita.

Hayate approached Nanoha.

"Go on, we will all wait for you to come out." She held her friend's hands between hers and pressed them supportively.

Nanoha hurried to the delivery room.

"We are ready, Nanoha you are just right on time." Shamal welcomed her.

"Are you ready, sweetheart?"

"NO!" Fate was terrified.

"Yes you are Fate-san. We've gone through this several times, you will do just fine. Your contractions are increasing."

"No, I don't…ouuuuu." Fate couldn't suppress the exclamation of pain.

"It is time, Fate-san you have to push!"

… … … … … … … …

After an intense session of loud gasps and cries, calmness settled in, and a second later it was broken by the cry of a newborn baby. Shamal excused herself and went to evaluate, clean and get the baby girl ready while Nanoha couldn't stop watching Fate with admiration and undying devotion.

"Where is she?" Fate asked Nanoha, clenching her hand and squeezing it with a little more strength than necessary.

"Shamal will bring her back any moment now. Take a rest in the meanwhile."

A few minutes later Shamal got back smiling. I her arms, wrapped in a soft pink blanket, she was holding Fate's and Nanoha's baby. Nanoha stood up and walked towards her and Shamal carefully handed her the small warm bundle. In her arms, she had the most beautiful baby she had ever seen. Fun-size Fate. A delicate thin fluff revealed the unmistakable blond hair. Nanoha felt her heart flutter and time stopping as the baby opened her eyes and look at her, the reflection of her own eyes.

"Nanoha?" She heard Fate's voice calling her.

Nanoha snapped out of the charm and sat in the bed next to Fate and put her daughter in her arms.

Fate watched her thunderstruck. She was real, and she was hers. She leaned against Nanoha's shoulder and kept observing her daughter.

"She has your eyes," Fate said surprised.

Fate carefully touched her baby's cheek and brushed her lightly. She felt her heart exploding when the little hand closed over her finger. She turned to see Nanoha, tears of joy slided out of the beautiful blue eyes. Fate took Nanoha's hand and led her towards their daughter. With her little hand, she also grabbed Nanoha's finger. In that moment, Nanoha knew she was crazy in love with daughter. Without moving her hand from her baby, she turned her body to be face to face with Fate and reached her lips with hers.

"Do you have any idea how much I love you?"

"I know exactly how much you love me, Fate-chan."

They both felt their daughter releasing their hands and started to shift her position, instinctively looking for Fate's breast. Fate understood the non-verbal request and unbuttoned the top of her robe. A sense of peace and happiness filled her as she nursed her baby for the very first time.

Shamal walked in quietly. She didn't want to interrupt the sweet moment. In her hand she had the name bracelet that was to be put around the hand of the baby.

Shamal and the others had been silent witnesses of the comings and goings between Fate and Nanoha deciding on their last names.

"I already wrote down Takamachi-Harlaown. Have you _finally_ decided on the name?"

Nanoha and Fate looked at each other. They bother opened their mouths to say something, and despite their best efforts they couldn't help sharing a guilty laughter.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

The final disclaimer: I still do not own any of the characters of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha and that makes me sad. I did borrow them and got the emotional reward of writing a story. I won't make myself rich out if it, if anything I could actually lose money since I _borrowed_ time from my job to write and publish. That shouldn't get me fired, right?

So that's the end of it. I hope you all liked it. I know I pushed the limits of fantasy a bit hehe but I enjoyed it. It's amazing because it is so not me to deal with pregnancy issues, but somehow the story turned into that direction and couldn't stop it. It was great writing my first piece of fiction around the greatest characters ever and with the English version finally done, I can try and concentrate with my work again xD

100+ reviews and I'm just posting the ending. It's so unreal. Once again, I want to thank you all for reading me, for the support and for enjoying my story. It really means a lot to me. I can't wait to read your final thoughts about it.

I orignally thought I wouldn't be writing any more, but there are certain ideas already bumping in my mind. Who knows, I might give a try at a one-shot or something. I'm way too obsessed about these two, so... we'll see.

* * *

**Engish version Bonus _aka_ Additional notes about the story I wanted to share with my dear readers and I did not include in the Spanish one:**

**1. **One scene at all was the primary detonator of the story that flowed in my mind before I realized it was something I could actually write down. _What scene? _You may ask. StrikerS 2nd opening, where Fate is watching the three portraits. She longs for a family, and it bugged me that the last picture had Nanoha and Vivio but didn't have her. (That same scene motivated the brief FateNum moment)

**2.** You don't fool me Fate T. Harlaown, I'm sure that deep down, when you changed your name you wanted that T to mean Takamachi! So there, you are welcome! _(Author has officially lost her marbles since she is addressing a fictional character)_

**3.** About the pregnancy  
Storywise:  
What determines who gets pregnant? Easy, the one who opens up first. Of course it's not easy to conceive babies like that, even if its using the magical methods, a lot of requirements must be met, but, we're talking about our Ace's here ;)

What really was going on in Crazy Author's mind:  
Ok, yes I'm the one to blame for getting Fate pregnant. Guilty as charged, although it's not as amazing as it sounds since it's Nanoha who actually got to enjoy it xD

_Why Fate?_ As the story got unveiled itself I thought that Nanoha was the obvious choice. My over-active imagination traveled that path and I saw Fate being stuck in a mission and missing the birth of her child. No way. She had to be there. How could I guarantee Fate would be there? Oh yea, she's the one giving birth. No way she could miss that now!

**4. **About the rings. _Are they one-time only?_ I don't know, what do you think?

**5. **I apologize because there is no plausible reason for not including Agito and Reinforce in the plot. I wanted to stay as true as possible to the story after StrikerS (ignoring ViVid and Force), but I just couldn't handle any more characters. So let's just say Agito and Reinforce were enjoying some special vacactions for petites. Oh, and about not including Subaru... well that was intentional. I just don't like her :( It's the only character that doesn't click me.

**6.** The name, the name... I know you all hate me for ending it before they said it! I just couldn't. I know that in our minds you each have the perfect name for NanoFate baby.

**7.** Using Tina Fey's words from Saturday Night Live: "The real sign of progress is that nobody cares " (she talks about how 4 women in space 20 years ago could only happen in porn, and today is considered as science), well I apply the same concept to same-sex relationships. I want to believe that the world Fate and Nanoha live in is a progressed one, since I didn't want to get into intolerant issues in my fic.

**8.** I know some of you anticipated the wedding. It was beautiful hahaha xD

**9. **How could I forget to give thanks my inspirational muse? I never mentioned her in any of my A/N's, that's so not nice of me. What could I say about her...She's tall and blonde... and has the most beautiful burgundy eyes ever! The one and only Fate T. Harlaown whom I acknowledge as Nanoha's property, but still she decided to be my muse ^^

_(In case you were not convinced that Author has officially lost her marbles.)_


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